Air Force awards TSAT extension

Boeing Co. has won a $75 million contract extension to continue doing work on the Air Force’s Transformational Satellite Communications System.

The extension brings Boeing’s total TSAT contract up to $793 million, company officials said. Boeing does risk reduction and system definition for TSAT.

TSAT will provide high-capacity and Internet-like connectivity via satellite for airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance; communications on the move, and protected strategic communications, the company officials said.

Boeing used technology produced for a commercial communications satellite services customer to demonstrate TSAT’s capability. These demonstrations included the company's space-based packet-switching technology, and Boeing also has built a single software program that will allow all of TSAT's space and ground systems to work together, eliminating the need for multiple software programs to run different operations, the company said.

Boeing’s TSAT team includes: Cisco Systems Inc., Hughes Network Systems LLC, IBM Corp., Harris Corp., Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., LGS Innovations LLC, Raytheon Co., General Dynamics C4 Systems, L-3 Communications Corp., BBN Technologies, EMS Technologies Inc., Science Applications International Corp. and Innovative Communications Engineering LLC.