Signal 09 2006

Germany's Federal Office for Information Management and Information Technology of the Bundeswehr awarded the SatcomBw contract to MilSat Services GmbH, Bremen, a joint venture formed by the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company's (EADS) Space Services division, Paris, and ND SatCom, Friedrichshafen. Other key subcontractors include EADS Astrium, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) and Intelsat. Officially approved in July, the 10-year contract has an extension option for an additional seven and a half years. According to EADS Space Services spokesman Dr. Mathias Spude, the total cost for the program, including the military's investment, is approximately 940 million euros, or nearly $ 1.2 billion. The DLR will manage the satellite segment of the program, while the Bundeswehr operates the groundsta-tions. Alcatel Alenia Space manufactured the two spacecraft—which feature a design based on the Spacebus platform—for EADS Astrium. Ari-anespace will launch the satellites from the European Space Center in Kourou, French Guyana. Initiated in the late 1990s, stage one of SatcomBw consisted of developing the ground infrastructure. ND Satcom built two anchor stations operating in the C, X and Ku bands; 16 transportable tri-band ground terminals with an operating bandwidth up to 6 megabits per second; and 26 single-channel ground terminals operating at 128 kilobits per second. The anchor stations are located at Gerolstien and Kastellaun. Both facilities will provide secure communications to German forces deployed overseas. The smaller terminals are designed for use on ships, aircraft and ground vehicles as well as in fixed and mobile sites.
Download (rapidshare.com)