Astrium signs Comcept military satcom contact with France
France desires its first digital broadband satellite communications network for its military, and Astrium will be delivering it within a year.
The electronics company and the French military procurement agency DGA have signed a Comcept contract. Starting in 2014, Comcept will provide the French armed forces with fresh new broadband satellite capacity over the next 17 years.
The French-Italian satellite, Athena-Fidus, will be the main source of capacity for the Comcept contract. Set for launch within the next 12 months, Athena-Fidus will be compatible with future Ka-band commercial satellite networks that will use the Ka-band for fast and capacious bandwidth.
Astrium will engineer and test the new broadband satellite system alongside its co-contractor Actia Sodielec. A satellite telecommunications company, Actia will engineer, integrate, and maintain the ground stations of the system.
The Syracuse system currently provides satellite broadband capacity for the French military.
