Kratos Awarded Multi-Million Dollar Ground System Contract by Airbus to Support OmanSat-1

Kratos Defense & Security Solutions, Inc. (Nasdaq: KTOS), a technology company in Defense, National Security and Global Markets, today announced that Airbus Defence and Space has awarded Kratos a contract to deliver a ground segment for its customer Space Communication Technologies (SCT) SPC to support the OmanSat-1 software-defined satellite.

With the growing need for mission flexibility to deliver high throughput services, Oman’s national satellite operator, SCT selected Airbus Defence and Space to deliver OmanSat-1, a fully reconfigurable high-throughput OneSat satellite and the associated ground system. Airbus selected Kratos to deliver the integrated ground system to operate the OmanSat-1 software-defined satellite.

Elodie Viau, Senior Vice President of Telecommunication and Navigation for Airbus Defence and Space, said, “The OmanSat-1 satellite uses a flexible OneSat payload architecture that needs a ground system that is just as dynamic to support the reconfiguration of the satellite and the monitoring of the signals to enable troubleshooting and performance reporting. Building on our successful collaboration across multiple OneSat programs, Kratos will deliver the ground system that works in tandem with the OmanSat-1 satellite, enabling SCT to provide high-throughput services while providing extensive flexibility, serving Oman and the region and expanding to access East African and East Asian markets.”

Reinforcing the need for satellites and ground systems to escape legacy silos and work together in tandem, Luke Wyles, an analyst with Analysys Mason explained in a recent white paper that “in order to optimize the resource allocation on the Software-Defined Satellite (SDS), the network must be orchestrated, reconfiguring the space and ground segment in unison to meet changing demands.”

Bruno Dupas, Vice President of Kratos Space, said, “Kratos is integrating the ground system with Airbus’ mission and control platform to manage and monitor the satellite payload while intelligently orchestrating ground resources. This will enable SCT to dynamically plan spectrum, seamlessly coordinate payload configurations with ground assets, and do so far faster and in a more automated fashion than ever before.”

Kratos will deliver the ground segment that will include the capability to configure and monitor the satellite, optimize and setup the payload using integrated Airbus components, monitor the performance of the entire system from the satellite to the ground and orchestrate part of the operations. The implementation will include Ka-Band telemetry, tracking and command (TT&C) antennas, monitor and control and carrier monitoring software, command, control and flight dynamics capabilities and the orchestration system. Leveraging its office in Oman, Kratos will also perform site surveys, install and commission equipment, deliver training and provide support for the delivery.

Kratos has a proven track record of delivering state-of-the-art ground solutions and is at the forefront of developing new capabilities to support today’s software-defined satellites. This includes the recent successful completion of the first factory acceptance test of Kratos’ Epoch command and control (C2) system with Airbus’ OneSat software-defined satellite. Kratos also brings a breadth of experience across the ground segment in areas such as satellite C2; TT&C; payload operations; network management and spectrum monitoring to deliver integrated satellite and ground system solutions.