SES launches X-band service platform
January 14, 2022
By Chris Forrester
Satellite operator SES has launched an X-band service platform from its Government Services division. It is being operated via a partnership with Luxembourg-based GovSat and Network Innovations. The system is called tactiXs.
The full end-to-end managed service is said to provide practical, cost-effective solutions to mission parameters by allowing the customer to purchase a volume-based Mb/s service, as opposed to MHz bandwidth agreements, whilst ensuring security and performance of the connectivity service.
Leveraging the GovSat-1 satellite, operated by GovSat, tactiXs delivers secure, non-preemptible X-band capacity to customers on an on-demand basis across any domain or austere environment in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Utilising high-powered, steerable spot beams that can be quickly repositioned to provide robust coverage makes this solution well suited for any US military or government-based mission whether it be comms-on-the-move or comms-on-the-pause.
tactiXs can support a myriad of use cases required by military users, including covert missions and various types of special ops. SES says the GovSat-1 satellite connectivity is ideally paired with the capabilities of the tactiXs platform and has all the key attributes of MILSATCOM such as anti-jam, encrypted telemetry & control as well as secure beam steering & control, and can augment the Wideband Global SATCOM system (WGS) with secure X- and Mil Ka- band capabilities.
“Our new service platform is a non-preemptible alternative to WGS that can handle the most tactical-edge customers’ data and mission requirements, and with no lead time required can be set up within hours for the mission at hand,” said President/CEO of SES Government Solutions, Brigadier General Pete Hoene, USAF (rtd). “We are proud to partner with both Network Innovations and GovSat as we understand the demand for reliable, uncontended bandwidth and we are excited to bring this innovative and secure solution to the market.”