BAE Systems Australia will deliver a major capability improvement to the Royal Australian Navy with the upgrade of maritime satellite communications terminals in a four year, $30 million project.
The upgrade of maritime satellite communications terminals (MASTIS - Maritime element of the Advanced SATCOM Terrestrial Infrastructure System) is an extension to BAE Systems Australia’s existing MASTIS support contract and will be undertaken at BAE Systems facilities at Edinburgh Parks in SA and North Ryde in Sydney.
The upgrade will be achieved through the delivery of vastly increased bandwidth which will provide more efficient usage of defence satellite capacity and enhanced network interoperability between ships, aircraft and land based platforms.
The MASTIS terminals are equipped with two antennas which are capable of transmitting and receiving in X and Ka-bands simultaneously and they are able to connect to two different satellites at the same time.
This dual-band, dual-antenna approach will provide the Navy with advanced SATCOM availability and a substantial increase in the ship's data capabilities, even under heavy interference conditions.
MASTIS terminals are fitted in three variants in the RAN fleet, including the dual antenna terminal variant fitted to Landing Helicopter Dock (LHD) ships and the air warfare destroyers or DDGs. The upgrade addresses all of the Navy’s in-service MASTIS fleet of 17 ship fitted systems and 1 training suite.
MASTIS terminals were designed, developed and delivered by BAE Systems and entered service in 2005. The upgrade will see BAE Systems working with Airbus Defence and Space, which supplied a significant portion of the original terminals including the three axis stabilised antenna system.