Friday, January 22, 2010

ViaSat Awarded First Limited Production Order for MIDS JTRS Terminals

Production marks major milestone in JTRS program
Defense News Updates ~ CARLSBAD, Calif., Jan. 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- ViaSat Inc. (Nasdaq: VSAT) has been awarded a Limited Production (LP) order valued at $14.4 million for Multifunctional Information Distribution System Joint Tactical Radio System (MIDS JTRS) terminals for the U.S. government. The LP award resulted from a competitive procurement for 41 terminals through the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR). ViaSat was awarded 100% of the terminals in the procurement. The order is being awarded under the MIDS Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity contract initially executed in January 2000. The MIDS JTRS terminals are for F/A-18E/F and E-8C Joint STARS aircraft and spares.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091216/VIASATLOGO)
The MIDS JTRS program was implemented as a Pre-Planned Product Improvement (P3I) to the current MIDS Low Volume Terminal (MIDS-LVT). MIDS JTRS has completed contractor qualification testing and initial F/A-18E/F integration in anticipation of operational testing in 2010. Pre-production terminals have been undergoing flight tests at Patuxent River Naval Air Station and China Lake Naval Air Weapons Station for several months. The terminal has successfully completed security verification testing and is in the final stages of obtaining NSA certification. ViaSat expects to receive conditional first article approval in February 2010.
MIDS JTRS is a joint development of ViaSat and Data Link Solutions and provides a migration path from the MIDS-LVT to a certified, reprogrammable, software-defined radio architecture for tactical data links. The MIDS JTRS adds three programmable channels to the legacy Link-16 and TACAN capabilities of the MIDS-LVT. The three new channels are designed to host future advanced airborne networking waveforms. MIDS JTRS is "plug-and-play" backward compatible with MIDS-LVT so it can easily replace the MIDS-LVT, but remain interoperable.
About ViaSat (www.viasat.com)
ViaSat produces innovative satellite and other digital communication products that enable fast, secure, and efficient communications to virtually any location. The company provides networking products and managed network services for enterprise IP applications; is a key supplier of network-centric military communications and encryption technologies and products to the U.S. government; is the primary technology partner for gateway and customer-premises equipment for consumer and mobile satellite broadband services; and owns WildBlue, the premier Ka-band satellite broadband service provider. ViaSat also offers design capabilities and a number of complementary products including monolithic microwave integrated circuits and modules, DVB-S2 satellite communication components, video data link systems, data acceleration and compression, and mobile satellite antenna systems. ViaSat is based in Carlsbad, CA, has major locations in Duluth, GA, Germantown, MD (Comsat Laboratories), and Greenwood Village, CO (WildBlue), along with additional field offices and service centers worldwide.
Safe Harbor Statement
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements about operational testing, First Article Approval, and deliveries and performance of the ViaSat MIDS JTRS terminal. ViaSat wishes to caution you that there are some factors that could cause actual results to differ materially, including but not limited to: contractual problems, product defects, manufacturing issues or delays, regulatory issues, technologies not being developed according to anticipated schedules, or that do not perform according to expectations; and increased competition and other factors affecting the wireless communications and secure networking industry generally. In addition, please refer to the risk factors contained in ViaSat's SEC filings available at
www.sec.gov, including ViaSat's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. ViaSat undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for any reason.
Comsat Labs and Comsat Laboratories are tradenames of ViaSat Inc. Neither Comsat Labs nor Comsat Laboratories is affiliated with COMSAT Corporation. "Comsat" is a registered trademark of COMSAT Corporation. All additional products are trademarks of their respective owners.

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