Inmarsat, Honeywell Partner to Deliver Innovative SATCOM Solutions to the U.S. Government

Estimated reading time: 2 minutes

Honeywell and Inmarsat, the world leader in global, mobile satellite communications, announced an agreement to develop and deliver innovative commercial satellite communications (COMSATCOM) solutions to the U.S. government. The solutions will be focused on fixed-wing and non-fixed wing aeronautical platforms operating worldwide, including in Arctic regions. The agreement extends the companies’ best-in-class COMSATCOM services to U.S. Defense customers while continuing to advance solutions that meet mission-specific requirements.

Through the new strategic alliance, Inmarsat and Honeywell will offer U.S. government users access to a unique suite of products and services across Inmarsat’s worldwide networks operating in L-band, as well as in the commercial and military Ka-bands. L-band frequencies are lower radio frequencies between the 1 and 2 GHz range employed for a variety of applications to include highly resilient mobility satellite communications. Ka-band radio frequencies in the 26 to 40GHz range offer higher throughput for satellite communications and other applications.  

“Inmarsat’s commercial satellite capabilities combined with Honeywell’s connected aircraft expertise will give us the ability to serve the U.S. government market with best-in-class reliability and connectivity services throughout the world,” said Bob Buddecke, president of Services & Connectivity, Honeywell Aerospace.

The alliance builds on Inmarsat and Honeywell’s longstanding relationship. Honeywell manufactures the JetWave series of terminal hardware for GX Aviation and sells Inmarsat’s Jet ConneX inflight service for the business aviation market. This agreement further supports Inmarsat’s ability to deliver state-of-the-art communications capabilities to airborne government users worldwide.

“Honeywell and Inmarsat have successfully serviced U.S. government customers for decades, with a particular pedigree in the aeronautical space,” said Susan Miller, chief executive officer, Inmarsat Government. “We are delighted to expand our partnership with Honeywell to deliver Inmarsat innovation and world-class aeronautical SATCOM services to government users worldwide. We are excited about the prospects that this new relationship will bring to this very dynamic and challenging market.”

Inmarsat’s Global Xpress (GX) is the world’s first and only globally available, seamless mobile commercial wideband service. In U.S. government operation since July 2014, GX has established itself as the gold standard for reliable wideband communications across land, sea, and air for assured mobile connectivity and interoperability with government satellite communication systems. Inmarsat’s comprehensive L-band services provide highly reliable voice and data worldwide.

Jetwave delivers high-speed GX broadband SATCOM capability, purpose-built for military and government agencies that require real-time situational awareness globally via secure network resilient data connections.