In September of 2015, Airbus Defence and Space completed the move of the Skynet 5A satellite to 95 degrees East over APAC to extend the Skynet constellation’s coverage and services to include the Indian Ocean and Western Pacific region
Airbus Defence and Space now has a channel partner for their Skynet services program in the APAC region, that being GigaSat who will now be offering Skynet services as part of their mobile and fly-away communications portfolio to Indonesian Defence Forces.
Artistic rendition of the Skynet 5A satellite.
Airbus Defence and Space is working with service providers to develop new partnerships to deliver highly resilient Skynet MILSATCOM services to this region following the move of the Skynet 5A satellite to provide global X-band and UHF coverage. Airbus Defence and Space owns and operates the hardened Skynet X-band satellite constellation of eight satellites and the ground network to provide all Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) communications to the UK Ministry of Defence.
The contract also allows other NATO and allied governments such as members of the five-eyes community (besides UK, the USA, Australia, New Zealand and Canada) to use the Skynet system to augment their existing services.
Steve Mills, Head of Global Sales and Marketing for Skynet 5 at Airbus Defence and Space, reported that his company has worked with GigaSat already for a number of years, working with that firm's extensive satellite terminal portfolio. This new partnership will enable GigaSat to offer Skynet services to their already strong terminal customer base; the services will primarily be using the newly relocated Skynet 5A satellite and enable users to operate in both the US and Asia regions.”
Tom Cross, Business Unit Director for Ultra Electronics, GigaSat, commented that his company has a long history of providing integrated hardware solutions to our global SATCOM customers. This partnership with Airbus will for the first time allow us to also provide X-band and UHF Skynet services, and we are particularly excited about bringing this capability to the Indonesian market, where we have enjoyed strong customer relationships for many years.