Al Yah Satellite Communications Company PrJsc (Yahsat) has signed a five year contract with Astrium Services, an EADS company, to manage the operations, training and maintenance for the network management and ground
segments of the UAE Armed Forces’ new military satellite communications system.
Through the long-standing expertise developed with its range of Paradigm services, Astrium has a unique heritage in military satellite communications (Milsatcom) services as the world’s first and largest commercial operator of secure military satellites on the Skynet 5 programme for the UK Ministry of Defence. Astrium Services will draw on its experience and capability to meet Yahsat’s high levels of service assurance, service
delivery and robustness.
“It has been a great honour to develop a satellite communications solution to support our nation’s defences and promote broader regional security,” said Rashed Al Ghafri, General Manager of YahService. “The system Yahsat has worked to create is a flagship programme for the United Arab Emirates’ Armed Forces. Obviously, successful
operations and maintenance of the system will be critical for its future success. We are therefore very pleased to have the experience and support of Paradigm in delivering our operations and maintenance services and look forward to working with them over the next five years.”
Eric Béranger, CEO of Astrium Services, commented, “This is a significant contract for Astrium, reinforcing our reputation as a world leading military satellite services company. It is a testament to our strength in providing expert, managed, military satellite communications solutions through our range of Paradigm services. Our
Paradigm teams will bring all the attributes and quality they’ve built up on the UK MoD’s Skynet 5 programme into developing Milsatcom service delivery in the UAE.”
The contract will support the two fixed satellite ground stations based within the UAE, the network management system and the maintenance of a significant number of remote ground stations ranging from manpacks to large transportable terminals.
While the UAE is the first governmental client, YahService also offers a range of managed services and value added solutions to clients in defence, government and enterprise sectors. These services coordinate communications in areas including secure networking, mission critical applications, border control, disaster
recovery and backup for key data networks.
