Mission Microwave Technologies, LLC, a manufacturer of highly efficient solid-state power amplifiers (SSPAs), has confirmed an eight million dollar order for the continuation of a major upgrade program for a customer supporting a U.S. government requirement.

Mission Microwave engineers worked with their customer to create an upgrade path for the U.S. Government to replace legacy traveling wave tube amplifiers (TWTA) based block upconverters (BUCs) with state-of-the-art solid-state BUCs, based on GaN technology, to upgrade a fleet of widely deployed transportable terminals. The initial upgrades started in late 2019 and prior to this recent award over one hundred sets of Ku- and Ka-Band BUCs have been delivered to Mission Microwave’s customer on the program.

Mission Microwave is providing 200 W Ka-Band and 400 W Ku-Band BUCs to replace legacy TWTA based Upconverters. Mission Microwave’s industry leading competency in designing compact and highly efficient amplifiers has enabled their customer to offer an upgrade path that will extend the life and improve the utility of this tactical satcom terminal fleet.

“The end-users of our products rely on satcom system providers to bring the benefits of solid-state designs to the tactical edge. We worked with our customers’ engineering team to navigate the complexities of the upgrade and certification process for these terminals. We expect the established trend of replacing high power TWTA’s with SSPA’s to be a significant market for the foreseeable future, led by our recent additions of 400 W Ka-Band and 800 W X-Band BUCs to our product line,” said Steve Richeson, vice president of Sales & Marketing for Mission Microwave.