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A brand new purpose built satellite ground station has been established in Adelaide to land Airbus Defence and Space’s Skynet secure military satellite communications.
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The Australian facility extends an existing chain of teleports in France, Germany, Norway, the UK and the US, providing global coverage in both fixed and mobile satellite services.
This worldwide teleport network provides global coverage for connectivity services by providing the link between the satellite constellation and terrestrial networks for reliable end-to-end connectivity at the highest service levels.
Skynet supports military satcom operations across the globe, especially in remote areas with little or no communication infrastructure and in mid-ocean, distanced from land and shipping lanes – making it ideal for naval and airborne platforms, as well as land operations.
The new Australian ground station is managed by Airbus Defence and Space in partnership with Speedcast, which has a long heritage in ground station and teleport operations, and already manages more than 30 ground stations around the world.
Speedcast, as a local Australian provider for more than 25 years, has worked with the Australian military developing a wide range of complex communication solutions.
Richard Franklin, head of secure communications at Airbus Defence and Space, said, “We are delighted to be able to announce the opening of the Australian facility, which now allows us to offer our customers a fully managed and anchored service across the globe to the harshest and remotest locations.”
Airbus Defence and Space’s teleports are fully redundant and operated 24/7. They have more than 25 antennas, ranging from 2.4 metres to 14 metres in size and are all locked on to the Skynet constellation of high powered X-band and UHF satellites, as well as commercial Ku-band assets.
Airbus Defence and Space completed the move of the Skynet 5A military communications satellite to 95 degrees east over the Asia-Pacific region in September 2015.
The relocation was initiated to extend the Skynet constellation’s coverage and services from 178 degrees west to 163 degrees east, including the Indian Ocean and western Pacific region.
