Adoption of multi-orbit inflight connectivity continues apace as evidenced by today’s revelation from Gilat Satellite Networks that a “leading satellite operator” has ordered $60 million worth of the firm’s Stellar Blu ‘Sidewinder’ electronically steerable antennas (ESA) for installation on aircraft.
“These orders, for hundreds of additional Sidewinder ESA terminals, support new airline fleet awards in retrofit and the first production run of Sidewinders for the eventual OEM linefit terminal for Boeing,” Gilat says in a statement.
Gilat closed its acquisition of Stellar Blu, inclusive of Sidewinder work packages, in January. One month later, the Israeli firm described its Sidewinder backlog as being “several hundred units.” That backlog has now clearly grown substantially.
In its statement today, Gilat does not disclose the name of the “leading satellite operator” which has contracted it for $60 million in Sidewinder ESAs.
However, two aero ISPs — Intelsat, now owned by SES, and Panasonic Avionics — have publicly adopted Sidewinder for their nextgen IFC installs on commercial aircraft, as powered by Ku-band geostationary (GEO) satellites and Eutelsat OneWeb’s Ku-band Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite network. Only one, SES, is a satellite operator (Panasonic’s Ku-band network is based on a patchwork quilt of agreements with operators around the world.)
Thus far, Intelsat-now-SES has announced multi-orbit ESA retrofit agreements with Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Aerolíneas Argentinas, American Airlines, and Royal Brunei Airlines. Its customers for Boeing linefit installs of the kit include Japan Airlines and Skymark Airlines; each has selected the LEO/GEO IFC solution for their Boeing 737 MAX aircraft.
Intelsat-now-SES has indeed been progressing in its work to secure linefit offerability for its respective LEO/GEO service offering at Boeing. Earlier this year, the firm told Runway Girl Network that Boeing has “created a new outside solution for us. And so, we’ve got that almost through the finishing line and like I say, first customer middle of next year. It’s a radome-free solution that they’ve developed for us.”
The US airframer will support installs of the hardware on its 787 twinjets through Service Bulletins. That’s because the 787 has unique post-delivery retrofit requirements due to its composite airframe.
Embraer has also partnered with Intelsat to install the kit on its E2 twinjets during aircraft production, as some of its customers, including Air Canada and American Airlines are bringing the hardware to E1 aircraft via retrofit, underscoring keen interest.
Outside of commercial aviation, Gilat is targeting VVIP and special mission markets Tracy Trent, the president of Gilat Stellar Blu, said in a statement today.
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Featured image credited to Stellar Blu Solutions, now owned by Gilat.
