LM Taps ViaSat's Datalink Communications System for US Navy LRASM Integration and Test Program

June 14, 2017

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ViaSat Inc. (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global broadband services and technology company, announced today it received a follow-on contract from Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) to deliver datalink communications for the integration and test phase of the U.S. Navy's Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM) program. The contract calls for ViaSat to provide Weapon Data Link (WDL) L-Band Units (LBU) to support the overall missile test program's datalink communications requirements, as well as engineering support for software enhancements and flight test support.

The LRASM program is the key pillar of the U.S. Navy's Offensive Anti-Surface Warfare (OASuW) effort to improve its ability to engage and destroy high-value targets from extended range. The ViaSat datalink solution will enable the LRASM weapon system to communicate with launch platforms and provide growth opportunities in the future.

"Being selected by Lockheed Martin to provide the datalink unit for LRASM is a huge milestone for us," said Ken Peterman, president, Government Systems, ViaSat. "It validates our approach to the weapon datalink market by leveraging next-generation technology from our Battlefield Awareness and Targeting System (BATS) product line. The ViaSat datalink units provide highly-advanced communications capabilities and enhanced performance beyond previous weapon datalink offerings as well as a significantly reduced form factor with minimal development expense to our customers."

The LRASM solution is just the first in a series of offerings that ViaSat plans to bring to the marketplace over the next 12-18 months.

Source : ViaSat, Inc.