The contract, which follows a successful pilot programme, is to deliver satellite communications as a service (SaaMS) to the Marines.
Craig Miller (pictured), president of Viasat Government Systems, said: “This is a modern satcom service that is designed to deliver the performance, flexibility and rapid deployment capability Marine expeditionary forces need.”
Viasat said “this commercially developed SaaMS capability” has enabled the Marines “to extend command and control to the tactical edge, supporting Marine exercises, Marine expeditionary units and stand in force rotational deployments with on-demand satellite connectivity and data transport.”
The company said the “service will provide end-to-end, secure data custody from the edge back to the Marine Corps Enterprise Network via Viasat’s worldwide terrestrial network”.
Viasat and London-based Inmarsat are arguing their case for their proposed $7.3 billion merger to a number of regulators, including the UK’s Competition and Markets Authority.
The Reuters news agency reported this month that the EU is due to make its decision by 13 February.
