Viasat is expanding its work with Airbus Defence and Space to provide its secure, flexible broadband Ku- and Ka-band airborne technology for the Airbus C295 Maritime Patrol Aircraft (MPA) that have been acquired by the Spanish Ministry of Defence (MoD).
Viasat and Airbus Defence and Space will collaborate on the integration of Viasat’s dual-band (Ku/Ka) broadband terminal, the GAT-5530, into the Spanish C295 MPA fleet to provide a highly flexible, multi-band and multi-orbit, broadband SATCOM capability to support missions utilizing the sovereign, next-generation SpainSat NG satellites.
The integrated Viasat GAT-5530 terminal will deliver secure, reliable satellite connectivity to the Airbus C295 MPA aircraft, enhancing the Spanish military’s capabilities with resilient broadband SATCOM to support sovereign national security mission needs – including expanded command and control (C2) and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) applications.
"We are excited to expand our work with Airbus to support the Spanish Ministry of Defence with our highly flexible, multi-band terminal on the C295 Maritime Patrol Aircraft. Our connectivity solutions are designed to support modern military operation requirements with advanced, secure and resilient satellite communications. This includes enabling seamless roaming between sovereign and commercial networks to provide superior resilience beyond the capabilities of traditional single-band or single-network access solutions,” said Victor Farah, Senior Vice President, Viasat Government. “This selection by the Spanish MoD underscores the trust and confidence in our ability to deliver enhanced mission connectivity solutions and to help global government customers significantly improve reliability and continuity across a range of operational environments.”
The Airbus C295 is a highly reliable multirole and multi-mission tactical airlifter that is extremely versatile. It is currently operated by 37 countries around the world, having reached 300 orders earlier this year.
The GAT-5530 strengthens this operational capability by supporting the entire ITU Ku- and Ka-bands, including 3.5GHz of commercial and military Ka-band. This multi-faceted terminal offers significant operational flexibility for the Spanish MoD and other military customers seeking to increase resilience with multi-frequency (Ku/Mil-Ka/Commercial-Ka), multi-orbit (GEO, MEO, HEO), multi-network communications architectures.