Thales, a global technology leader for the Defense & Security markets, and Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PrJSC (Yahsat), signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to offer highly secure satellite communication services to Military Forces and Government Agencies.

Thales and Yahsat are pioneering this type of satellite services on Ka band, the optimum communications band for critical and confidential government and military wideband communications.

The continuous evolution of conflicts and threats requires the armed and security forces to operate at increasing distances from their command bases: joint combats, peace keeping missions, disaster relief operations, borders and costs surveillance, satellite communications are then necessary to allow them to operate together in the field, regardless of situation or location.

Therefore, through this MoU, Thales and Yahsat establish the principles of a technical and commercial cooperation to offer a customized highly secure ground satellite communications capability. Concretely, Yahsat provides its Ka band satellite resource while Thales provides its associated ground segment secure solutions.

More precisely, a part of Yahsat's mission is to promote and lease governmental Ka-band capacity under its product "YahSecure". With communications capability over Europe, Asia, Africa and the Middle East, YahSecure offers a complete range of satellite services for applications such as military communication networks, broadband services and video broadcast.

Thales is the developer and owner of a wide range of ground system solutions addressing transmission, networking and security. In particular, Thales supplies the latest generation of its Satellite Ground Terminals (SGT) operating in Ka band, as well as the latest modem technology offering a high transmission protection level and up-to-date waveforms for broadband services. In addition to an increased bandwidth capability, Thales's portfolio of terminals and system solutions meets today's requirements in terms of interoperability, mobility, security and resilience.

"We are very proud to announce this new partnership with Yahsat. By combining our strengths and know-how, we are anticipating governments' needs and enabling ourselves to provide them with turnkey solutions tailored to their stringent requirements" said Jean-Michel Lagarde, Thales SVP in charge of systems activities. "This partnership thus consolidates the position of Thales as a leading satcom industrial participant, able to provide reactive and reliable system solutions."

Talking on the significance of the agreement, Rashed Al Ghafri, YahSecure General Manager, said: "The signing of this agreement with Thales is the first step in Yahsat's long-term vision to position YahSecure as the leading commercial provider of government Ka band satellite solutions.

"The decision to partner with Thales was strategic, as there is a great synergy between our organizations. I am confident that this will be just the first of many successful partnerships together,” he concluded.

Yahsat is a private joint stock company fully owned by Mubadala, an investment arm of the Government of Abu Dhabi. Since being incorporated in 2007, Yahsat have designed the region’s first multi-purpose satellite system, based on extensive interaction with customers and research into their communication needs.

Yahsat’s first-hand understanding of specific market requirements has enabled it to develop customized satellite solutions for the government as well as the commercial sector in the Middle East, Africa, Europe and South West Asia.

 

For more information, check Al-Defaiya Issue # 5/2011