Iridium Communications of McLean, Va., said March 14 it had received a $13.4 million contract from the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Dahlgren Division in Virginia to expand the range and number of hand-held push-to-talk radios the so-called Netted Iridium can accommodate.
Under the contract — structured as a follow-on to work already under way — Iridium will make further enhancements to the military’s Distributed Tactical Communications System, which takes advantage of Iridium’s satellite network to provide over-the-horizon, beyond-line-of-site tactical networks for warfighters on the move. Iridium says there are currently 5,600 activate Netted Iridium radios.
