“Aireon has always been part of Iridium’s aviation safety strategy. We founded it in partnership with the world’s leading Air Navigation Service Providers (ANSPs), because we believed space-based aviation safety was a generational opportunity,” said Matt Desch, CEO, Iridium. “The aviation industry is now entering an era of growing air traffic, denser airspace, autonomous aircraft, and greater expectations for safety and resiliency. Bringing Aireon fully inside Iridium better positions us to build what’s needed to support the future of aviation, including more innovations like the future introduction of space-based VHF communications.”

The acquisition unites Aireon’s surveillance and data services, including GPS jamming and spoofing detection, with Iridium’s global satcom network and PNT services that help keep GPS-dependent systems working in contested environments. This combination creates one company providing four critical aviation industry capabilities: knowing where every aircraft is, communicating with the pilots flying them, providing the navigation and timing integrity those aircraft rely on, and translating that information into operational insights that make airspace safer and more efficient. No other satellite operator delivers this combination of capabilities on a global scale.

“Aireon and Iridium have been partners since day one, and that partnership is the reason we have been able to build the world’s only space-based air traffic surveillance system and a fast-growing aviation data services business alongside it,” said Don Thoma, CEO of Aireon. “Becoming part of Iridium is a natural next step for our team, our customers, and our roadmap, particularly as our data products expand into new areas like turbulence detection and aviation data analytics. Together, we are building the foundation for the future of global aviation.”

Source: Iridium

Stay in the know with breaking news from across the IC and IC contracting landscape by becoming a paid subscriber to IC News. Your support makes our work possible.

The post Iridium to acquire Aireon appeared first on Intelligence Community News.

The System Infrastructure Transformation and Hybridization (SITH) contract enables technological refreshes, lifecycle upgrades, and security enhancements to the Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) Service Center, Technical Support Center (TSC), and Defense Ground Station (DGS). SITH is a follow-on contract to the Gateway Evolution Contract awarded to Iridium in 2019.

The Iridium network provides resilient, mission-critical communications that warfighters need—anywhere in the world, even under adverse weather conditions. SITH is the latest of three core EMSS contracts between Iridium and the USSF. The EMSS Airtime Contract delivers unmatched truly global SATCOM connectivity, offering unlimited access for an unlimited number of DoD and federal government users. Meanwhile, through the Capabilities and Security Sustainment Services Contract (ECS3) awarded in April 2024, Iridium helps ensure the EMSS Service Center and DGS remain at peak performance.

“Through this contract, Iridium and the U.S. Space Force will continue to innovate and deliver resilient, secure and highly reliable mission-critical communications,” said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president, Iridium. “Our solutions with the Department of Defense are designed to serve every layer of the warfighter’s P.A.C.E. (Primary, Alternate, Contingency, Emergency) plan. We look forward to supporting the U.S. and our allies through new technology introductions and ongoing collaboration.”

Powered by the only truly global low-Earth orbit (LEO) network, Iridium’s voice and data solutions elevate situational awareness for military forces and provide precise tracking of critical assets in the harshest environments—delivering a level of performance and reliability that is not easily duplicated. Additionally, the company’s expertise in satellite operations and network management is integral as it works to establish the ground Operations and Integration (O&I) segment for Tranche 1 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA).

Source: Iridium

Time is running out — become a paid subscriber to IC News today, and lock in subscription rates at 2025 prices. You’ll get full access to breaking news from across the IC contracting space, with new articles each weekday.

The post Iridium wins USSF system infrastructure contract appeared first on Intelligence Community News.

The Iridium EMSS program delivers access to truly global unlimited secure and standard narrowband voice, broadcast, push-to-talk and select additional services to an unlimited number of U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and DoD-approved subscribers. Supporting this program, the EMSS Service Center provides connectivity into the Iridium network enabling critical communication applications.

“This new contract ensures our critical support to the EMSS Service Center well into the future. We have been working with Department of Defense EMSS Program Office for over 20 years, providing the sustainment and security enhancements necessary for our warfighters to execute their missions. The EMSS mission is a perfect example of the U.S. Space Force’s recently released Commercial Space Strategy, leveraging the innovation of Iridium and our valuable partner ecosystem,” said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president, government programs, Iridium. “We are privileged and proud to continue to provide support to our most important customer, and we look forward to working with the U.S. Space Force under the new space strategy.”

The previous iteration of this contract, known as “GMSSA” was signed in 2019 for 4.5 years and valued at $54 million. In September 2019, Iridium was awarded a seven-year, $738.5 million airtime services contract by the Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), continuing the EMSS program and furthering Iridium’s role as an integral part of the United States government’s critical communications infrastructure through at least 2026. This new ECS3 contract will support the infrastructure used for EMSS through 2029.

Source: Iridium

Like IC News? Then please consider subscribing. You’ll get full access to our searchable library of 10,000+ articles, plus new articles each weekday.

The post Iridium awarded SSC contract appeared first on Intelligence Community News.

In this new role, McNiff is providing leadership and strategy for Iridium’s SDA-related business, as it establishes the ground Operations and Integration (O&I) segment for Tranche 1 of the Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture (PWSA). The core operations and integration functions include enterprise management, network management, mission management, payload data management, and constellation monitoring that spans the ground, link, space, and user segments of the architecture.

McNiff joins Iridium from Microsoft Federal where he led the Intelligence Operating Unit focused on delivery of Microsoft products and services to its key national security customer vertical. With more than 30 years of experience, McNiff has held numerous executive positions within the federal contracting industry. He spent 16 years at Northrop Grumman, holding senior executive management positions in program management, P&L operations, business development, and corporate strategy. He began his career as an engineer and product manager for commercial satellite and cellular telecommunication companies including GTE and Iridium.

“John brings a great deal of experience and expertise that will help turbocharge Iridium’s SDA operations,” said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president of government programs, Iridium. “After having previously worked at Iridium as a product manager years ago, we’re glad his career has come full circle with him re-joining our team in this new role. We look forward to his leadership in driving smooth SDA operations and continued success.”

Source: Iridium

Keep up with your competitors by following notable executive moves across the IC contracting space — become a paid subscriber to IC News.

Image credit: Iridium Communications

The post Iridium expands SDA operations with John McNiff hire appeared first on Intelligence Community News.

The service, named Satellite Time and Location (STL), is an easy-to-adopt, highly secure solution that increases the efficiency and reliability of timing systems for digital infrastructure like 5G base stations, data centers, and other critical infrastructure and protects against GNSS vulnerabilities using low-cost hardware that doesn’t require outdoor antennas. This acquisition continues Iridium’s philosophy of investing in differentiating technologies uniquely suited to its network that significantly outperform competing solutions.

The market for assured Positioning Navigation and Timing (PNT) services, estimated to reach $3.5 billion in 2032, is evolving to require integrated small-form-factor devices instead of the server rack-size solutions connected to outdoor GPS antennas that are available today. Time synchronization and location data play an important role in the global economy, particularly in the commercial sector for major industries supported by critical infrastructure, such as financial services, telecommunications, cyber security, and transportation. These industries and others rely on an estimated 10,000 data centers globally and their hundreds of millions of data processing and storage servers. Each of these servers requires time synchronization and can benefit from the in-server room efficiency and resilience delivered by Iridium STL.

Iridium will now work to reduce the size and cost barriers to adoption, enabling deployment of a more accessible solution for integration with autonomous systems, consumer devices, vehicles and traditional markets like aviation, maritime and land mobile. It also provides an opportunity for Iridium’s existing partner eco-system to add to their portfolio of solutions and harden their GNSS-reliant products and infrastructure.

“This market is growing; it’s a perfect application of our network, and this solution solves a problem for critical industries better than anything else,” said Iridium CEO Matt Desch.  “Acquiring Satelles makes perfect sense for Iridium and is consistent with what our strategy has always been, which is to take advantage of our unique network to do what others can’t or do it better than anyone else can.  STL is the superior solution available today, and we have been following and investing in Satelles’s technology roadmap to allow us to create even more opportunity. We’re excited to formally bring the Satelles team “in-house,” to the Iridium family.”

The STL service utilizes the stronger broadcast paging channels of the Iridium satellite constellation to deliver precise timing information, which provides truly global, secure time and location signals that are 1,000 times more powerful than GNSS constellations. The service is resilient to regional GNSS outages, works inside buildings and is being used today to secure digital infrastructure for financial markets, governments, and major corporations.

STL will become a new business line of Iridium, led by Satelles CEO, Dr. Michael O’Connor, who will report to Iridium CEO Matt Desch.  “Bringing STL into the Iridium family is going to be a supercharger for this capability that will benefit our customers and our society. I look forward to a bright future together,” said O’Connor.

Source: Iridium

Your competitors read IC News each day. Shouldn’t you? Learn more about our subscription options, and keep up with every move in the IC contracting space.

The post Iridium acquires Satelles appeared first on Intelligence Community News.

The second-generation Iridium constellation was completed in January 2019 and consists of 66 operational satellites and 9 in-orbit spares. An additional six satellites were manufactured as ground spares and remain in storage. Should the need arise to launch a ground spare, Relativity’s Terran 1 offers a cost-effective, efficient response time option for Iridium to quickly deploy a satellite to one of its six orbital planes. Relativity’s disruptive large-scale robotic 3D printing technology enables launches within months, instead of years.

“The upgraded Iridium satellite constellation is operating incredibly well, but it’s prudent to have a cost-effective launch option available for future spare delivery,” said Matt Desch CEO of Iridium. “Relativity’s Terran 1 fits our launch needs to LEO well from both a price, responsiveness and capability perspective. And we know based on our previous experience that there are great benefits to engaging with a provider early on during development of the launch vehicle and it evolving around our particular needs.”

On June 24, Relativity also announced a Right of Entry Agreement with the United States Air Force, 30th Space Wing, for development of rocket launch facilities at Vandenberg Air Force Base. These launch site facilities will support flights to the polar orbits needed for the Iridium satellite constellation.

Source: Relativity

The post Iridium to partner with Relativity Space appeared first on Intelligence Community News.

This milestone signifies Iridium’s continued investment in enabling a global and reliable, secure network that supports mission-critical communications for the Department of Defense (DoD). Additionally, under the fixed-price Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) contract, the DoD and its partners have access to unlimited airtime service for voice, data, paging and Distributed Tactical Communications Services (DTCS).  This task order reinforces Iridium’s strong and longstanding relationship with the DoD, and enables continued collaboration and modernization efforts to support warfighter communication needs now and into the future.

“Iridium is proud to work with the DoD and enable global and reliable communications for the United States warfighters and other DISA approved users,” said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president of government solutions at Iridium. “We place significant value and take great pride in our longstanding partnership with the DoD, and look forward to continuing working together as we move towards our next-generation constellation.”

Iridium NEXT, Iridium’s next-generation global satellite constellation, is scheduled to begin launching in 2016 and for completion in late 2017.  The new constellation will offer greater bandwidth and data speeds, dramatically enhancing Iridium’s ability to meet the rapidly-expanding demand for truly global mobile communications on land, at sea and in the skies.

Source: Iridium Communications Inc.

The post DISA awards Iridium $8.57 million task order for gateway modernization appeared first on Intelligence Community News.

The capability, once deployed, will advance the Department of Defense’s critical satellite communications network, bringing secure, reliable and truly global communications services to users in the defense and intelligence community operating anywhere on Earth.

In partnership with DISA’s Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services (EMSS) program office, the team demonstrated real-time, push-to-talk voice and data communications that connected users in regions across the globe, including Virginia, Arizona, Hawaii, Alaska, Australia and locations within the Arctic Circle. Multiple radios deployed within each region demonstrated the ability to simultaneously connect with those nearby as well as with others thousands of miles away.

“This successful demonstration is the first step in a major capability evolution for DTCS,” said Mark Adams, vice president and general manager of the Exelis specialty applications business. “We remain committed to DISA’s goal of providing DTCS users with more powerful communication tools and an improved overall user experience, regardless of global location.”

The global services capability will provide command and control, as well as situational awareness, through inter-theater, on-the-move communications between distributed tactical units and multiple echelons of command around the world. The demonstration was carried out by leveraging currently fielded technology, with some enhancements made to software and DISA communications infrastructure.

“Industry has worked closely with the U.S. government to rapidly develop these new DTCS Global Services capabilities,” said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president, government programs, Iridium. “In an era of declining budgets, leveraging Iridium’s global satellite network has enabled the Department of Defense to deploy advanced technology with specialized capabilities for the warfighter at a fraction of the cost and schedule of typical military systems.”

Exelis received the DTCS Global Services contract from the EMSS program office in May 2013. Since then, the company has worked collaboratively with Iridium and DoD representatives to define a capability roadmap for the global satellite communication system.

Source: Exelis

The post Exelis and Iridium successfully demonstrate new DTCS Global Services appeared first on Intelligence Community News.