Boeing Phantom Works to Offer Satellite Antenna Tech for Military Aircraft Comms

Boeing’s prototyping arm plans to begin manufacturing a flat satellite antenna technology in 2020 to facilitate broadband communications for military aircraft, SpaceNews reported Wednesday. 

Phantom Works will offer its low-profile electronically steered antenna along with a multichannel terminal to the U.S. Navy’s MQ-25 unmanned aerial refueling program, for which Boeing serves as the prime contractor.

Thomas Gathmann, director of mission integration mission solutions at Phantom Works, said at the Satellite 2019 event that P-8 maritime patrol aircraft and KC-46 tanker operators are among the other target customers for the antenna.

He noted the new technology would help aircrew gain access to government and commercial Ka-band satellites.

“We’ve seen the market move to Ka band,” Gathmann told SpaceNews in an interview. “We’re really targeting increased performance at a cost point that is comparable to mechanically steered parabolic antennas with radomes.”

Other target antenna buyers are U.S. Marines and Special Operations Forces, which use V-22 Osprey multimission tiltrotors, according to Gathmann.