Raytheon to provide next-gen Navy shipboard SATCOM in potential half-billion-dollar deal
SAN DIEGO, 28 Jan. 2016. Military communications experts at Raytheon Co. will provide the U.S. Navy with next-generation shipboard satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals under terms of a $102.9 million contract.
Officials of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego, are asking the Raytheon (NYSE:RTN) Space and Airborne Systems segment in Marlborough, Mass., to provide Navy Multiband Terminals (NMTs), which ultimately are expected to be installed on about 300 Navy ships, submarines and shore stations.
This contract, announced on 29 Dec., has options that eventually increase its value to $466.6 million, Navy officials say.
The NMT is a multiband-capable SATCOM terminal that provides protected and wideband communications. It supports extremely high frequency (EHF) communications; advanced EHF low- medium-, and extended-data-rate communications; super high frequency (SHF) communications; military Ka-band transmit and receive communications; and receive-only Global Broadcast Service communications.
Related: Navy orders shipboard radios from General Dynamics for surface warships and submarines
The NMT provides shipboard SATCOM capabilities for the Navy and U.S. allies that provides seamless assured connectivity between a ship's or submarine's computer network and the Global Information Grid, Raytheon officials say.
It will replace several existing SATCOM systems developed and maintained by Raytheon since the mid-1980s. The new system will provide naval commanders and sailors with greater data throughput capacity and improved protection against enemy intercepts, company officials say. The system has demonstrated its capabilities under the extremes of shipboard motion.
The contract combines purchases for the U.S. and United Kingdom. Raytheon will do the work in Largo, Fla.; South Deerfield, Mass.; Stow, Mass.;and Marlborough, Mass., and should be finished by September 2018. If all options are exercised, work could continue until September 2022.
For more information contact Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems online at www.raytheon.com, or SPAWAR at www.spawar.navy.mil.
John Keller | Editor
John Keller is editor-in-chief of Military & Aerospace Electronics magazine, which provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronic and optoelectronic technologies in military, space, and commercial aviation applications. A member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since the magazine's founding in 1989, Mr. Keller took over as chief editor in 1995.
