News: Microelectronics
23 March 2021
Comtech awarded $1m follow-on order for military X-band SSPAs
Comtech Telecommunications Corp of Melville, NY, USA says that, during its fiscal third-quarter 2021, its subsidiary Comtech Xicom Technology Inc of Santa Clara, CA – a part of Comtech’s Commercial Solutions segment that makes tube-based and solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs) for satellite communication (satcom) uplink applications – received a contract worth more than $1m for X-band SSPA/BUCs (block upconverters) for transportable military satcom ground systems.
X-band is set aside for government satellite service, primarily military applications that require low interference, low rain-fade and small terminal size, even if data rates are limited. A major challenge of X-band is that, unlike other satcom bands, the receive band is adjacent to the transmit band, making it critical that any RF leakage be extremely low to avoid interfering with the receive signal. Xicom says that its X-band amplifiers and BUCs are optimized for this challenging low-leakage requirement as well as being high in power density, highly efficient and compact. They are suitable for fixed, transportable, manpack and mobile military applications.
“We have invested heavily to build out a comprehensive X-band product line to support military fixed and transportable terminals with the most challenging performance and environmental requirements,” says Fred Kornberg, chairman of the board & CEO of Comtech Telecommunications.
