Intelsat Nabs Big Navy Satcom Contract

By Turner Brinton

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WASHINGTON — Intelsat General Corp. of Bethesda, Md., was awarded a contract worth as much as $542.7 million over five years to provide global end-to-end satellite communications services for the U.S. Navy, according to a Jan. 26 Defense Department press release.

Intelsat General, a subsidiary of satellite operator Intelsat of Washington and Bermuda, will provide C-, Ku- and X-band satellite capacity, ground terminals and terrestrial backhaul and network management services as the prime contractor for the Navy’s Commercial Broadband Satellite Program (CBSP). The program will replace the Navy’s current L-band mobile satellite services provided by Inmarsat of London.

While Intelsat does not operate any X-band communications satellites, the company in September announced a strategic arrangement with Paradigm Secure Communications of the United Kingdom to be its preferred provider of X-band capacity. Paradigm operates the Skynet satellite fleet on behalf of Britain’s Ministry of Defence.

The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity CBSP contract, which includes one base year and four one-year options, was issued by the Defense Information Systems Agency. Four other competitors submitted bids for the contract, the release said.