Iridium will build communications system for Marines

Iridium Government Services LLC will expand the Marine Corps’ communications capabilities under a five-year contract worth $21.68 million.

The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract calls for Iridium to support over-the-horizon, tactical communications for expeditionary maneuver warfare and distributed operations.

Iridium will design, build and deliver a distributed tactical communications system to support the Marine Corps’ Warfighting Laboratory experimentation. The company will provide a communications capability that will support multiple user networks.

The majority of the work will be performed at the company’s headquarters in Bethesda Md., with additional work at its site in Tempe Ariz.

The contract is expected to be completed by May 2014.

The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division, Dahlgren, Va., is the contracting activity.

Iridium Government Services is a unit of Iridium Satellite LLC, of Bethesda, Md., a provider of global satellite voice and data communications solutions and manufacturer of satellite telecommunications equipment.