COMSAT
and Inmarsat successfully
support U.S. Marine Corps
Forces, Pacific, Balikatan 2016
exercise
COMSAT, Inc., and Inmarsat
have been supporting U.S. and
Republic of the Philippines
forces in the Balikatan 2016
(BK16) exercise, which took
place in the Philippines, April
4 to 16. COMSAT, a value-added
reseller of Inmarsat’s Global
Xpress services, worked with
U.S. Marine Corps Forces Pacific
(MARFORPAC), who organized and
managed the exercise, to
integrate Global Xpress into the
scenarios for BK16. The Global
Xpress service was provided via
a Cobham 5075 terminal which was
deployed with the U.S. Marine
Corps.
Balikatan is an annual military
exercise between U.S. joint forces and
the Armed Forces of the Philippines
(AFP) with multinational participants
such as Australia. The BK16 exercise
focused on a variety of missions to
include humanitarian assistance,
maritime law enforcement, and
environmental protection. During this
exercise, U.S. forces conducted
humanitarian civil assistance projects
with the AFP throughout the Philippine
archipelago.
There were also combined operational
events between U.S. forces, the three
main branches of the AFP, and other
major Philippine military camps to
improve collaboration, increase
partnership capabilities, and plan for
follow-on operations.
“As part of this exercise, our
intention was to support MARFORPAC in
this exercise by bringing new and
innovative cost-effective communication
technologies that support mission
success. Unlike competitive offerings,
the service is readily available today
and offers unmatched end-user benefits,”
said Nancy Ho, Vice President, Business
Development, U.S. Government / Military,
COMSAT, Inc. “The ease of use and
performance of the Global Xpress
solution was able to deliver a reliable,
core communications link during the
exercise.”
The Global Xpress SATCOM as a Service
end-to-end managed service capability
allowed the Cobham 5075 terminal to be
tested at COMSAT offices in Herndon, VA;
shipped to the Philippines; and brought
online within minutes -- a significant
step-change compared to the traditional
VSAT capability, which requires operator
intervention to reconfigure a terminal
to operate in a new geographic location.
Because of its global mobility,
ease-of-use and high throughput, users
were able to set up the Global Xpress
terminal and acquire service in just
minutes for their web browsing and email
applications at Basa Air Base, the
designated headquarters for all U.S.
Marine Corps Forces involved in the
exercise. Supported by the only
commercial worldwide Ka-band
constellation built for mobility
available from a single operator, Global
Xpress delivered BK16 exercise users
with end-to-end, seamless ‘SATCOM as a
Service’ capability – compatible with
MILSATCOM systems and available on
demand, no matter the environment or the
geographic location.
“We have a proven track record of
more than 35 years delivering mobile
satellite communication capabilities to
U.S. government users worldwide. Through
collaborations with our skilled partners
like COMSAT, we have successfully
demonstrated that Global Xpress delivers
a highly reliable Ka-band network to
meet mobile, on-demand communication
needs, worldwide,” said Kai Tang,
Inmarsat’s Vice President of Market
Development, U.S. Government. “We
believe that the BK16 exercise users
were able to see first-hand the benefits
Global Xpress delivers – seamless,
consistent wideband access from a single
operator that supports mobile,
interoperable communication needs, at an
affordable price.”
