Astrium, Europe's largest space company, has won an order to supply five state-of-the-art Maritime Advanced SATCOM Terrestrial Infrastructure System (ASTIS) wideband satellite communications terminals to the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), with the contract enabling additional options to be exercised over the next nine months.

The ASTIS terminal is a dual-band X/Ka variant of the company's SCOT ship borne antenna system, 200 of which have been supplied to 11 navies around the world. The ASTIS was the first naval terminal to use Ka-band operationally and is already fitted in 14 of the RAN's major warships.

The new dual antenna terminals, which will be supplied through the ASTIS prime contractor BAE Systems (Australia), are destined for three new RAN air warfare destroyers and two new amphibious ships. They are scheduled to be delivered between September 2010 and May 2011.

Aidan Joy, director of Astrium Services’ ground systems business unit, said, “We have been working closely with the Royal Australian Navy over the last six years, and this latest contract is a real vote of confidence in our ability to deliver state-of-the-art SATCOM solutions. I am extremely pleased that Astrium’s SATCOM systems will be at the heart of the RAN for the next decade.”