DoD looks to commercial satcom firms for services

The Defense Department is increasingly looking to commercial satellite providers to beef up bandwidth and security, according to a Reuters report.

Purchasing commercial services as an addition to its own satellite capabilities is nothing new for the military. However, now Pentagon officials are pursuing more flexible agreements to allow the military to buy the services on an as-needed basis, lowering costs while improving agility, according to the report.

BONUS: Learn about the military's approach to rapid provisioning of satellite bandwidth at a special C4ISRNet breakfast event April 27th. Go here for more information. 

"The concept of working with the commercial industry has really blossomed [within the military] in the last year," said Matt Desch, CEO of Iridium Communications, as quoted in the article.

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