Hughes Awarded U.S. Government Contract for SATCOM Communications Architecture

Wide-Ranging Investigation of Wideband Satellite Transports, Leveraging Commercial Technologies

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Jul 24, 2017, 15:00 ET

GERMANTOWN, Md., July 24, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES), the global leader in broadband satellite networks and services, today announced it has been awarded a Wideband Communications Architecture Study (WCAS) contract to support the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) plan for resilient, cost-effective satellite communications (SATCOM) capabilities. Under the contract, Hughes will investigate a wide-ranging commercial perspective on how different satellite transports can interoperate for wideband government applications.

Hughes will help to create a secure and affordable WCA that can facilitate varied and redundant space and ground transports, delivering a design analysis of wide-beam, spot-beam, and on-board processing satellites, including GEO/LEO and airborne platforms. An overall goal is to expand the flexibility and interoperability of U.S. government satellite communications capabilities, allowing DoD's various applications to operate over its own satellite network as well as leveraging commercial satellites, gateways, waveforms, and terminals to increase mission assurance.

"This new contract reinforces our growing leadership in efficient defense and intelligence-related high-throughput satellite, ground infrastructure, and automation technologies," stated Rick Lober, vice president and general manager of Hughes Defense and Intelligence Systems Division. "Hughes looks forward to supporting the DoD in helping define innovative and interoperable satellite system architectures for flexible and robust network management for contested environments."

Hughes is proposing to leverage a Multi-Modem Adaptor to enable multiple service providers to contribute towards a resilient SATCOM service that will also automate provisioning and improve network operational efficiency.

About Hughes Network Systems
Hughes Network Systems, LLC (HUGHES) is the global leader in broadband satellite technology and services for home and office. Its flagship high-speed satellite Internet service is HughesNet®, the world's largest satellite network with over 1 million residential and business customers across North America and Brazil. For large enterprises and governments, the company's HughesON® managed network services provide complete connectivity solutions employing an optimized mix of satellite and terrestrial technologies. The JUPITER™ System is the world's most widely deployed High-Throughput Satellite (HTS) platform, operating on more than 20 satellites by leading service providers, delivering a wide range of broadband enterprise, mobility and cellular backhaul applications. To date, Hughes has shipped more than 5.5 million terminals to customers in over 100 countries, representing approximately 50 percent market share, and its technology is powering broadband services to aircraft around the world.

Headquartered outside Washington, D.C., in Germantown, Maryland, USA, Hughes operates sales and support offices worldwide, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS), a premier global provider of satellite operations. For additional information about Hughes, please visit www.hughes.com and follow @Hughes_Corp on Twitter.

About EchoStar
EchoStar Corporation (NASDAQ: SATS) is a premier global provider of satellite communication solutions. Headquartered in Englewood, Colo., and conducting business around the globe, EchoStar is a pioneer in secure communications technologies through its Hughes Network Systems and EchoStar Satellite Services business segments. For more information, visit echostar.com. Follow @EchoStar on Twitter.

SOURCE Hughes Network Systems, LLC