ViaSat MIDS JTRS Terminal Receives NSA Certification

New generation of ViaSat terminals will advance secure communications for U.S. military aircraft; limited production has commenced

(Carlsbad, Calif., April 9, 2010) -- ViaSat (Nasdaq: VSAT) has received Type 1 certification from the National Security Agency (NSA) for the Multifunction Information Distribution System (MIDS) Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) terminal effective March 11, 2010. The MIDS JTRS terminal is being developed under contract from the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) MIDS Program Office (MPO), which is part of the Joint Program Executive Office for the Joint Tactical Radio System (JPEO JTRS). As previously announced, ViaSat is on contract to deliver Limited Production (LP) MIDS JTRS terminals for the U.S. Navy and U.S. Air Force.

The ViaSat designed Crypto Sub-System (CSS) embedded in the terminal is a programmable crypto module based entirely on the multi-channel PSIAM(TM) commercial off-the-shelf component design that can be programmed to perform all necessary Type 1 cryptographic functions. Additional waveforms and processing applications are being evaluated as candidates for future phases of terminal deployment.

NSA has certified single-channel Link-16 operation along with TACAN navigation on a dedicated channel. Future phases that provide additional waveforms and channels will require additional certification.

"This milestone certification is significant because it demonstrates the ability to satisfy the latest NSA security requirements for a software-defined radio designed to meet multi-channel, multi-security-level JTRS specifications," said Paul Baca, vice president and general manager of ViaSat Tactical Data Links. "This is the first JTRS radio development program to achieve NSA type 1 certification under its updated Uniform Infosec Criteria (UIC) security requirements."

MIDS JTRS is a joint development by ViaSat and Data Link Solutions and provides a migration path from the MIDS-Low Volume Terminal (LVT) to a certified, reprogrammable, software-defined radio architecture for tactical data links. The MIDS JTRS adds three programmable channels to the legacy Link-16 and TACAN capabilities of the MIDS-LVT. The three new channels are designed to host future advanced airborne networking waveforms. MIDS JTRS is "plug-and-play" backward compatible with MIDS-LVT so it can easily replace the MIDS-LVT, but remain interoperable.

Source : ViaSat Inc. - click here for more information