Saudi Arabian Airlines selected Thales to provide its TopFlight SATCOM system on its new aircraft.

Thales TopFlight SATCOM system consists of an ARINC 781 compliant Satellite Data Unit (SDU) and its configuration module (SCM), bringing a breakthrough in SATCOM size and performance. Housed in a single enclosure, the SDU makes it a cost-effective solution equally applicable to short haul and long haul aircraft, as well as regional aircraft.

Taking full advantage of Inmarsat Swiftbroadband new I-4 series satellites, Thales TopFlight SATCOM offers data rates of up to 432 kbps average per channel.

In addition, this new standard of SATCOM continues to support Inmarsat Classic Aero Services for flight deck voice and data connectivity, an essential part of oceanic FANS (Future Air Navigation System) and ATS (Air Traffice Services) communications.

The two channel cards can be configured for “Classic Aero Services” or Swiftbroadband allowing to provide mandatory cockpit voice and data communications with one card, and leaving the second card available for either a second cockpit voice or an SBB connection at 432 kbps.

These additional capabilities of Internet Protocol (IP) based broadband provide an efficient and cost effective growing path for ground-air communication as part of Electronic Flight Bag (EFB) and aircraft system monitoring.