Thursday, September 4, 2014

Army buys $8.4M VSAT & SATCOM systems from L3 GCS

Defense.gov Contracts for Wednesday, September 03, 2014

L3 Global Communications Solutions, Inc., Victor, New York, was awarded an
$8,402,031 undefinitized contract action for sustainment of the Army’s
existing combat services support, for very small aperture terminal transmission systems and satellite communications terminals.

Fiscal 2014
operations and maintenance (Army) funds in the amount of $4,200,000
were obligated at the time of the award. Work will be performed in
Victor, New York, with estimated completion date of Aug. 28, 2016. Bids
were solicited with one received. Army Contract Command, Rock Island
Arsenal, Illinois, is the contracting activity (W52P1J-14-C-0057).

VSAT proves crucial to battlefield communications -- Defense Systems
Very-small-aperture terminal technology has proven to be an indispensable tool for command and control because it allows real-time voice, video and data transmission without communications infrastructure or line-of-sight positioning for fixed and on-the-move applications.

L-3 Global Communications Solutions manufactures the CSS VSATs and is supplying the program with 20 to 25 of its 1.2-meter Hawkeye VSATs every week, said Bob Jacobson, executive vice president and general manager of L-3 GCS. The company has reduced the dish size of the Hawkeye technology to 0.9 meters for use by the Special Operations Command in Afghanistan, he added.

The Army is acquiring thousands more VSATs under the five-year, $5 billion World-Wide Satellite Systems contract, under which Army personnel can buy VSATs from six approved vendors. In one of the largest procurements, the Army Communications-Electronics Life Cycle Management Command is buying VSAT systems to send encrypted voice, video and imagery data. TeleCommunication Systems is supplying the VSATs under a $246 million contract that includes options for about 1,500 systems. The company is delivering eight systems per week, said Mike Bristol, senior vice president of the company’s Government Solutions Group.

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