Zona Militar had an exclusive interview with Aaron Brosnan, President of Tampa Microwave, and Thales executives at the Satellite 2025 expo in Washington, DC. Thanks to its subsidiary Tampa Microwave and the 2024 acquisition of the Israeli communications company Get SAT, the French aerospace and defense company is improving its presence in the US defense market by developing advanced defense satellite communications (SATCOM) systems and solutions. The representatives from Thales and Tampa Microwave discussed the company’s current projects for the US armed forces with ZM and explained what new projects they are working on.
“We are the terminal supplier for the US Army’s integrated tactical network,” Thales told ZM. The project is a network modernization program of a family of systems, like tactical radios and hardware capabilities, including expeditionary mobile SATCOM terminals. The program is aimed at the US Army’s infantry division and brigade echelons. “This is an ongoing program, and we continue to provide terminals,” Thales said.
Another program Thales is working on involves developing solutions for the Army’s next-generation tactical terminal (NGTT), which will support the service’s next network modernization effort (the program after the one mentioned in the paragraph above). “We are planning to develop a variety of electronically steered array antennas, and potentially parabolic antennas to increase command and control on-the-move,” Thales explained. The US Army “does not want to be static anymore [and] we are interested in expeditionary and on-the-move terminals,” Thales added. Again, this is a long-term project involving various companies supplying large, medium, and small antennas.
The US Army is optimistic about the NGTT program. Currently, “the Army is forced to use separate systems to leverage different frequencies and satellite constellations in different orbits,” the service explained. Hence, NGTT will solve this problem as the program will combine all these capabilities into one system.
The company told ZM that they also provided terminals to the US Army’s expeditionary signal battalion’s modernization efforts. “We are one of several providers of small aperture terminals, and the battalions have and are using them now,” the company explained at Satellite 2025.
Tampa Microwave’s Brosnan said that the company has around three thousand terminals on the field, and the US Army wants to turn them from Geo-orbit terminals to Multi-orbit terminals. He believes upgrades, including field upgrades, will be smooth because the antennas have a very modular design.
During the meeting with ZM, Thales and Tampa Microwave also discussed other projects for the different US armed services. For example, the company has supplied terminals for Security Forces Assistance Brigades (SFAB), “and we have a robust relationship with US Special Operations Command (SOCOM) and the family of Special Operations Forces (SOF).” “We are one of the major providers for expeditionary satellite terminals,” Thales told ZM without further elaboration.
ZM also asked about putting Thales and Tampa Microwave terminals on surface vessels and uncrewed surface vessels (USVs), an area of constant interest for navies and coast guards. Brosnan explained, “we are working on smaller terminals, which will be multi-band and multi-orbit, to get rid of the antenna farms you see on ships.” Power consumption remains a critical issue, particularly regarding USVs, which have limited power generation.
Thales added that the company is “beginning to talk to the Navy about integrated command and control designs and terminals aboard USVs.” Moreover, Thales has already carried out “lab testing on terminals aboard USVs, which is challenging in rough seas. Now we are eager to engage with the US Navy for user trials.” As for the US Air Force, Thales has won “a set of SATCOM requirements for the service. They want expeditionary capabilities for island hopping operations, like in the Indo-Pacific theater.”
To summarize, with Tampa Microwave and Get SAT as part of its family, Thales has strengthened its role as SATCOM supplier. “We are de facto standard for expeditionary SATCOM within the US Department of Defense,” the company explained confidently. Thales did not rule out the acquisition of new companies to expand its systems, platforms, and joint solutions portfolio. “Thales is interested in growing in the US defense market, so acquiring companies in the future is an option.”
Looking to the future, Tampa Microwave’s Brosnan said, “we have ideas on multiband terminals that go from Ku to Ka, and we want to develop systems that are person-portable and mounted on vehicles.” Moreover, Tampa is working on electronically steered antennas (ESA). “We are expeditionary guys; we want systems light and easy to be on the move.”
“Watch out for the Association of the United States Army expo [AUSA, this October in Washington, DC],” Brosnan concluded. Big projects and announcements regarding SATCOM are on the horizon.
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