Satnews Daily
December 10th, 2018

Viasat's Airborne Modem Passes Military Certification to Operate on Wideband Global SATCOM Network


Viasat Inc.'s (NASDAQ: VSAT), Mobile Broadband Router (MBR)-4020 airborne modem has successfully completed the Army Forces Strategic Command (ARSTRAT) certification process and is now authorized to operate on the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) network. This will significantly reduce overall satellite communications (SATCOM) costs for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) customers and very important person special airlift mission (VIPSAM) aircraft.

The Viasat MBR-4020 is a dual-band, multi-mode software-defined modem, capable of industry-leading network interoperability and operational flexibility today. It is one device that can serve the high-speed, secure, resilient and ubiquitous airborne mission needs of military customers. 

Ken Peterman, president, Government Systems, Viasat said that obtaining ARSTRAT certification for the MBR-4020 modem demonstrates their ability to rapidly deliver solutions that can seamlessly integrate into a hybrid adaptive network architecture to meet rapidly evolving in-flight mission and communications needs. With Viasat's MBR-4020, VIPSAM and ISR customers have a communications infrastructure that can roam among networks and orbital regimes in order to deliver advanced connectivity services for evolving operations and en-route mission planning requirements.

The Viasat MBR-4020 is designed to fit seamlessly into Viasat's Hybrid Adaptive Network SATCOM architecture concept, which will conceptually allow users to operate across commercial and government purpose-built SATCOMnetworks, such as WGS, creating an end-to-end network that provides mitigation against congestion situations, intentional and unintentional interference sources and cyber threats through implementation of layered resiliency in highly contested environments.

The Viasat MBR-4020 modem is available for purchase and use across all branches of the U.S. Department of Defense.