Honeywell Aerospace has signed a Memorandum of Arrangement with Inmarsat to be a hardware provider for government and military customers looking to access Inmarsat’s commercial global, high-speed connectivity Global Xpress services.
This arrangement is an expansion to the existing relationship between the two companies for Honeywell to exclusively develop, produce and distribute commercial hardware for GX Aviation.
To specifically address government requirements, Honeywell is developing new products under the JetWave product family to support Inmarsat’s government Global Xpress services. Global Xpress (photo) is the first global commercial Ka-band network and has been built specifically with government and military use in mind. It will deliver secure, end-to-end wideband connectivity for seamless airborne, naval and land operations on a global basis by the first half of next year.
“As government missions expand around the world and the need for access to fast and dependable data grows, wideband high-throughput connectivity is necessary to keep personnel informed and ready,” said Jack Jacobs, Vice President, Marketing & Product Management, Honeywell Aerospace.
“Honeywell’s connectivity experience is unmatched in the industry. We’re providing access to the first truly global, high-speed connectivity network for our business and commercial aviation customers, and now our government customers will have the same access,” he added.
Honeywell JetWave hardware delivers high-speed data for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms, giving access to true high-throughput connectivity for sharing information, downloading the latest data and keeping personnel informed during critical missions.
“Building on our partnership with Honeywell for commercial GX Aviation, Inmarsat is pleased to now also be working with Honeywell on the development of airborne terminals designed specifically for government users. Honeywell’s hardware expertise in this market is a tremendous advantage to government users, providing the best possible tools for their mission readiness and execution worldwide,” said Peter Hadinger, President of Inmarsat’s U.S. government business unit.
The first Inmarsat-5 Global Xpress satellite entered commercial service with United States government customers within its Indian Ocean Region coverage area on July 1, 2014. The entry into service came shortly after the completion of extensive satellite and end-user tests. Honeywell participated in the user test and also successfully validated the performance on both the High-Capacity Military and Global Service Beams with Honeywell equipment, marking an important milestone for the two companies to deliver the next generation of wideband high-throughput data to government and military customers across the globe.
Honeywell and Inmarsat signed an agreement in 2012 to provide global in-flight connectivity services to business, commercial and government aviation customers around the world. Under the terms of the development and supply agreement, Honeywell will exclusively develop, produce and distribute the onboard hardware that will enable users to connect to Inmarsat’s Global Xpress constellation network. GX Aviation Ka-band satellite communication services will further strengthen Honeywell’s industry-leading SATCOM product suite catering to customers’ needs from the cockpit to the cabin.
Thousands of Honeywell Aerospace products and services are found on virtually every commercial, defense and space aircraft worldwide. The Aerospace business unit develops and integrates technologies that span air traffic modernization, flight and runway safety, engines, cockpit and cabin electronics, connectivity, logistics and more that deliver safe, efficient, productive and comfortable transportation-related experiences.
