Space Industry and Business News  
Alcatel Wins Italian Military Communications Satellite Deal

File image of a SICRAL class satellite.
by Staff Writers
Paris, France (SPX) Jan 24, 2007
Alcatel Alenia Space announced that it has signed a Euro 103 million contract with the Italian Ministry of Defense to provide the telecommunication satellite SICRAL-1B. The satellite, dedicated to the Italian Armed Forces, will ensure strategic and tactical communications on the Italian and foreign territories as well as mobile communications between terrestrial, naval and air platforms.

It will also provide UHF and SHF band satellite capacities to NATO forces, further to a Memorandum of Understanding which was signed in 2004 between the Ministries of Defense of Italy, France, the United Kingdom, and the Atlantic Alliance.

This contract, signed end of 2006, is financed by the Italian Ministry of Economic Development, in the scope of the industry competitiveness and high technology initiatives currently undertaken by the Ministry.

As prime contractor, Alcatel Alenia Space will manufacture and deliver the satellite as well as several ground segment's subsystems, amongst which the Telecommunications Control Centre in Vigna di Valle (Italy).

This announcement follows previous contracts signed with the Italian Ministry of Defense, including one worth 72 million euro signed in 2003, for non-recurring costs related to SICRAL-1B satellite and ground segment. A further contract for the completion of SICRAL-1B ground segment and satellite launch is forecast in the near future.

SICRAL-1B structure manufacturing and satellite integration is taking place in Alcatel Alenia Space's facility in Turin (Italy), whilst the environmental tests will be carried out in its facility in Cannes (France). The payload, which is manufacturing in Rome (Italy), is composed of 3 UHF band, 5 SHF band and 1 EHF/Ka band transmitters.

Carlo Alberto Penazzi, CEO of Alcatel Alenia Space in Italy, commented: "The SICRAL system is particularly strategic for the Italian Defense Administration as it has already demonstrated its efficiency in past military operations. SICRAL-1B satellite, which represents a further technological development for the Italian industry, consolidates Alcatel Alenia Space's leading role in SICRAL system development and in the delivery of end-to-end military telecommunications systems. "

SICRAL-1B, which is set for launch end of 2007, will supplement SICRAL-1 in operation since 2001. It will increase the availability and the complete reliability of the SICRAL system and will satisfy the operational requirements that the Italian Armed Forces are facing, mainly coming from "foreign areas". SICRAL-1B will be operational until 2019 and will be followed by SICRAL-2, which should be operational from 2011 until 2026.

The SICRAL system has been chosen by NATO, together with the French program Syracuse - also under the prime contractorship of Alcatel Alenia Space - and its British counterpart, to develop a network of protected telecommunications available to allied countries (the NATO SatCom program post-2000_NSP2K).

In this position, the SICRAL system, which today already guarantees efficient operation with the other systems, will be enhanced, thanks to the development of the SICRAL-1B satellite that will extend the potential of the system within NATO programs until 2019, contributing to increase the total capacity available to the Italian Armed Forces and its allies.

Related Links
Alcatel-Lucent
Read the latest in Military Space Communications Technology at SpaceWar.com
Read the latest in Military Space Communications Technology at SpaceWar.com



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Boeing And US Air Force Demonstrate Advanced Airborne Networking First
St. Louis MO (SPX) Jan 18, 2007
Boeing and the U.S. Air Force have demonstrated for the first time how -- with advanced airborne networking and information management technology -- a near-space vehicle can be used as a flexible, low-cost, theater-wide information broker that provides real-time tactical information to ground forces to enhance their effectiveness and survivability.







  • New Damage And Bad Weather Delay Asian Internet Repairs
  • Asia Turns To Time-Tested Solution For Damaged Internet Cables
  • Chinese Web Could Remain Slow Until Late January
  • 10000 Chinese Domain Names Vanish Amid Web Chaos

  • SpaceWorks Engineering Releases Study On Emerging Commercial Transport Services To ISS
  • JOULE II Launches With Success At Poker Flat
  • Russia To Stop Spacecraft Launches From Far East In 2007
  • SpaceX Delays Launch, Faces New Problems With Static Fire Test

  • Lockheed Martin And Boeing Form Strategic Alliance To Promote Next-Gen Air Transportation System
  • Time to test the Guardian Missile Defense System For Commercial Aircraft
  • Operational Testing And Evaluation Of Guardian Commercial Airline Anti-Missile System Begins
  • USGS Examines Environmental Impacts Of Aircraft De-Icers

  • Alcatel Wins Italian Military Communications Satellite Deal
  • Northrop Grumman Integrates All Phased Array Antennas On First Advanced EHF Flight Payload
  • Boeing And US Air Force Demonstrate Advanced Airborne Networking First
  • Raytheon To Be Prime Contractor On Radar Common Data Link Program

  • New Approaches For Producing Large Composite Structures
  • Raytheon Awarded Contract for Early Warning Radars Sustainment
  • Northrop Grumman Supplies TouchTable Technology to CNN's 'The Situation Room'
  • LISA Pathfinder Spacecraft Test Phase About To Start

  • Northrop Grumman Appoints Joseph Ensor Vice President Of Surveillance And Remote Sensing
  • Swedish Space Corporation Appoints New CEO
  • Solar Night Industries Announces Expansion into Colorado
  • Ascent Solar Hires Vice President of Business Development

  • GeoEye Next-Generation Earth Imaging Satellite Reaches Major Milestone
  • Chairman Reacts to National Academies' Earth Science and Applications Assessment
  • Egypt Plans First Remote Sensing Satellite
  • Japanese Government Initiates Space-Borne Hyperspectral Payload Program

  • Russian Glonass Navigation System Available To India
  • Stolen GPS Lead Police To Thieves
  • NATO Awards GIS Data Preparation Contract To TENET With Support From Galdos And IIC
  • ESA Chief Says Galileo Test Problems Are Being Fixed

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright Space.TV Corporation. AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space.TV Corp on any Web page published or hosted by Space.TV Corp. Privacy Statement