Viasat Inc., a global communications company, today announced it was awarded a contract to provide end-to-end satellite communications (SATCOM) support through a fully managed service to the United States Marine Corps (USMC).
The contract is an extension following a successful pilot and follow-on service program in the government’s FY22 through which Viasat delivered a fully managed SATCOM as a Managed Service (SaaMS) solution to the USMC I Marine Expeditionary Force (I MEF), the Marine Corps’ largest warfighting organization. This is the first commercially developed SaaMS implemented by a USMC command.
Under this fully managed SATCOM service, Viasat has provided I MEF with a resilient beyond-line-of-sight communications capability that is both scalable and rapidly deployable to meet contract and operational requirements. This commercially developed SaaMS capability has enabled I MEF to extend its command and control (C2) to the tactical edge, supporting Marine exercises, Marine Expeditionary Units and Stand in Force rotational deployments with on-demand satellite connectivity and data transport. The SaaMS is designed to provide greater flexibility to meet changing connectivity demands, support Multi-Domain Operations, and increase the safety of deployed forces through reliable and resilient communications.
“Viasat is very excited to continue its partnership with the Marine Corps and provide a fully managed SATCOM service that offers a dynamic and scalable solution to meet the demands of expeditionary forces,” said Craig Miller, president of Viasat Government Systems. “This is a modern SATCOM service that is designed to deliver the performance, flexibility and rapid deployment capability Marine expeditionary forces need – supporting operational readiness and enabling the USMC to easily leverage surge capacity for specific mission needs. This SaaMS solution is a critical piece to achieving a decision advantage in a modern information and communications warfare environment.”
The fully managed SATCOM solution includes seamless roaming, always-on access across Viasat’s commercial high-capacity networks, offering the USMC a highly flexible service that can leverage Service Level Agreements to meet specified mission and operational requirements. This service will provide end-to-end, secure data custody from the edge back to the Marine Corps Enterprise Network via Viasat’s worldwide terrestrial network.
The Viasat Unified Customer Experience Portal, included with the service, will deliver near real-time situational awareness for operational commanders and network managers alike, thus enabling greater, near real-time understanding across the entire network. Additionally, supported by a 24x7x365 network operations center and security operations center, this turnkey service will provide the USMC with terminal inventory management, network performance monitoring, cybersecurity, and cyber defense, as well as engineering support, training, and logistics support.
About Viasat
Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything in the world can be connected. For more than 35 years, Viasat has helped shape how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable, fast connections to impact people’s lives anywhere they are—on the ground, in the air or at sea.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include statements about the features and benefits of the Viasat SATCOM managed services for the U.S. Marine Corps. Readers are cautioned that actual results could differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include: construction, launch and operation of satellites, including the effect of any anomaly, operational failure or degradation in satellite performance; contractual problems, product defects, manufacturing issues or delays, regulatory issues, technologies not being developed according to anticipated schedules, or that do not perform according to expectations; delays in approving U.S. government budgets and cuts in government defense expenditures; and increased competition and other factors affecting the government and defense sectors generally. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in Viasat’s SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including Viasat’s most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. Viasat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.
Featured image credited to istock.com/JakeOlimb
