Comtech gets Army satellite services order

Comtech Telecommunications received a new order from the Army Communications Electronics Command to provide additional satellite network and ground station services for future Army forces.

Comtech Telecommunications Corp. received a new order from the Army Communications Electronics Command to provide additional satellite network and ground station services for future Army forces.

Under the order, Comtech Mobile Datacom Corp. of Germantown, Md., will test and deploy improved beam processing HUB equipment to selected portions of the satellite network for the Force XXI Battle Command Brigade and Below ? Blue Force Tracking program (FBCB2-BFT). The new order might be worth as much as $2.7 million, the company said.

In addition, Comtech Mobile Datacom will provide equipment and services to enable the use of the INMARSAT 4 satellite constellation.

FBCB2-BFT is designed to provide real-time situational awareness not only to commanders at lower echelons but also to individual soldiers. The system can assimilate more than 1,000 subscriber sets covering an Army brigade's primary weapons systems and platforms, such as tanks, combat vehicles and helicopters. The Blue Force Tracking is employed to distinguish friend from foe on the battlefield.

Comtech Mobile Datacom Corp. is a unit of Comtech Telecommunications of Melville, N.Y. The parent company ranks No. 94 on Washington Technology's 2007 Top 100 list of the largest government contractors.