Jane Edwards
Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch of Inmarsat Government wrote in a SatMagazine article that the commercial satellite communications industry supports government customers“™ missions and understand their requirements by investing in programs and capabilities that seek to improve the mobility, redundancy, flexibility, throughput, protection and resilience of satcom systems.
Cowen-Hirsch, senior vice president for government strategy and policy at Inmarsat Government, cited a statement of Gen. John Hyten, commander of U.S. Strategic Command, before a Senate panel and how it reflects the need to leverage commercial capabilities to support the U.S. government“™s goal of building an “integrated SATCOM architecture of the future.“
She mentioned Inmarsat“™s continued investments in satellite systems and payloads to deliver Ka- and L-band services to government and military clients. Those include the planned launch of three Global Xpress satellites – GX7, 8 and 9 ““ in 2023 and two new payloads aboard Space Norway satellites, which are set for launch in 2022.
Cowen-Hirsch said the payloads will provide mobile wideband services in the Arctic region. “Importantly these payloads will also provide mil-Ka capability through service beams and high-capacity steerable beams, complementing military satellite resources,“ she added.
She said the company also plans to launch the Inmarsat-6 communications satellite fleet in 2020. “The Inmarsat-6 fleet is a unique dual band payload covering L- and Ka-band services, and will support a new generation of capabilities for the 5G era, from advanced global safety services and low-cost mobile services to high-definition streaming,“ she noted.
