[SatNews] ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT) has been awarded a Limited Production order valued at $6.8 million for Multifunctional Information Distribution System Joint Tactical Radio System (MIDS JTRS) terminals for the U.S. government.

The award resulted from a competitive procurement through the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). The order was awarded under the MIDS Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract initially executed in March 2010. The MIDS JTRS terminals are for F/A-18E/F, RC-135 Rivet Joint, and EC-130H Compass Call aircraft. MIDS JTRS is a joint development of ViaSat and Data Link Solutions and provides a migration path from the MIDS-Low Volume Terminal (LVT) to a certified, reprogrammable, software-defined radio architecture for tactical data links. The terminal has completed contractor and government qualification testing, and received the following certifications:

• Software Communications Architecture (SCA) compliance
• Electromagnetic Compatibility (EMC) certification
• Joint Interoperability Test Command (JITC) interoperability
• NSA security certification

ViaSat expects to enter full production and fielding in 2011. The MIDS JTRS adds three programmable channels to the legacy Link-16 and TACAN capabilities of the MIDS-LVT. The three new channels are designed to host future advanced airborne networking waveforms. MIDS JTRS is "plug-and-play" backward compatible with MIDS-LVT so it can easily replace the MIDS-LVT, but remain interoperable.