USAF gets satellite suites
The US DoD has awarded a contract to AQYR Technologies to provide Satellite Man-Portable Receive Suites to the USAF and other branches of the US military
The company announced on 28 September that the indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity production contract is valued at $100 million. AQYR will provide Global Broadcast Service (GBS) Rucksack Portable Receive Suites (AN/PRS-12) and Suitcase Portable Receive Suites (AN/PRS-11), spares, training, support and engineering services.
Both systems can be deployed and operated by a single user as they are highly-portable, rugged satellite receive suites. The AN/PRS-11 weighs less than 32 pounds while the AN/PRS-12 weighs less than 20 pounds in tactical carry mode.
The contract is a result of a Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) initially granted by the Air Force Research Laboratories. The initial funding received at the time of contract was $13.95 million.
The Portable Receiver Suites (PRS) supports vital command centre information and data to the in-field Warfighter, substantially improving mission success probabilities and saving lives. It can withstand a wide range of adverse environmental conditions like extreme heat/cold, blowing sand, rain and high humidity.
Owing to AQYR's auto-acquisition capability the satellite acquisition time is around three minutes. The systems provide access to Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) imagery; weather, terrain, geospatial and mapping information; unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) video and imagery; streaming video, web content replication and other large files.
Laura Dion, president, AQYR, said: ‘The award is the culmination of a decade long partnership, working side by side with the Warfighter and the Global Broadcast Service (GBS) Joint Programme Office. It is a SBIR success for all involved.’
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