L-3 Electron To Supply Traveling Wave Tubes For SS/L Communication Satellites

New York -- L-3 Communications announced that its Electron Technologies, Inc. (L-3 ETI) subsidiary has received a contract valued at over $20 million from Space Systems/Loral (SS/L) to provide S-band Traveling Wave Tube Amplifiers for two communications satellites being built for ICO Satellite Management, LLC, and Terrestar Networks, Inc.

L-3 ETI will deliver a flight set of 130-watt S-band TWTAs for the ICO program and a flight set of 100-watt S-band TWTAs for the Terrestar program. This order represents the eighth and ninth flight sets of S-band TWTAs ordered from L-3 ETI by SS/L. Both satellites under this order are geosynchronous (GEO) satellites based on SS/L's space-proven 1300 platform and will provide next-generation, 2-GHz mobile voice and data communications throughout the United States.

"We are extremely pleased to be selected by SS/L for the ICO and Terrestar programs," said Kevin Mallon, president of L-3 ETI. "L-3 ETI has an exceptional history of supporting SS/L and we appreciate the confidence the SS/L team has in our technical and production capabilities."

In communication satellites, TWTAs are used to amplify and transmit radio frequency signals back to Earth for a variety of applications, including voice, video and data.

SOURCE: L-3 Communications