19 mai 2020 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

Intelsat declares bankruptcy

Satellite communications provider Intelsat declared bankruptcy May 13, although its subsidiary which provides services to the Department of Defense is not part of the Chapter 11 proceedings.

CEO Stephen Spengler spun the action as a positive move, claiming it gave the company more financial flexibility for the Federal Communication Commission's clearing of C-Band spectrum to make way for 5G uses. Major satellite communications companies, including Intelsat, saw their stocks take a massive hit last fall when FCC Chairman Ajit Pai announced plans for a public auctioning of C-Band spectrum, which C-Band holders like Intelsat had hoped to sell off directly.

The company says it will need to spend more than $1 billion to meet the FCC's deadlines for clearing out C-Band spectrum, which it needs to do in order to be eligible for $4.87 billion in accelerated relocation payments. Wiping the company's significant legacy debt off the books will help it accomplish those actions, said Spengler.

“We intend to move forward with the accelerated clearing of C-band spectrum in the United States and to achieve a comprehensive solution that would result in a stronger balance sheet,” said Spengler in a statement. “This will position us to invest and pursue our strategic growth objectives, build on our strengths, and serve the mission-critical needs of our customers with additional resources and wind in our sails.”

Subject to court approval, the company said in a statement it had already secured $1 billion in new financing in debtor-in-position funds, giving it the liquidity to continue current operations and finance C-Band clearing costs spurred by the Federal Communications Commission. The company claims that day-to-day operations will not be impacted by the restructuring process—it will continue to launch new satellites and invest in its network with no changes planned.

The Chapter 11 petitions for Intelsat and some of its subsidiaries were filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, Richmond Division.

However, Intelsat General, which provides satellite communications to the U.S. military and allied military customers, is not part of the bankruptcy proceedings.

“The immediate concern (for DoD) is continuity of operations and it sounds like that is not going to be a big issue,” said Todd Harrison, director of the Aerospace Security Project at CSIS. “The longer term concern for DoD is how does Intelsat eventually emerge from bankruptcy, and is there any kind of transfer in ownership or an increase in ownership stake that would be concerning from a national security perspective.”

Specifically, investment from Chinese companies could raise alarms for the military and the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States.

“I think that's something that DoD will be watching, that Treasury will be watching,” he said. “It will be a positive side from DoD's perspective if wherever the capital is coming from is from a U.S. source.”

When asked about potential Chinese investment in a bankrupt Intelsat May 14, U.S. Air Force Assistant Secretary for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Will Roper acknowledged he had concerns.

“It's a topic that's harder for me to talk about, but we are mindful of adversarial tactics in this period. Every crisis is an opportunity, and with companies coming under duress it is an opportunity for predatorial tactics targeting IP that countries would not have access to otherwise," he told reporters.

Furthermore, Roper noted that the decision to financially support a company like Intelsat to prevent foreign investment requires a different calculus than a traditional stimulus.

“The way to engage if we risk losing IP to a nation for whom it's not in our interest to have it, it's a very different strategy (than whether we) should engage to prop up a company through stimulus," he said. "When the former appears to happen, then we need to pivot into a different gear than we would be in the latter. We simply cannot do stimulus for every company that is in duress right now.”

Intelsat isn't the only major satellite company to declare bankruptcy. OneWeb—who have been building a proliferated low earth orbit constellation to provide broadband—declared bankruptcy in March. DoD had been exploring utilizing OneWeb for communications in the Arctic among other things, and Lt. Gen. David Thompson, vice commander of Headquarters Space Force, noted earlier this week that the department's new Space Acquisition Council was looking into helping OneWeb and other financially vulnerable space companies impacted by COVID-19.

Intelsat noted in a statement that several of its end markets had been impacted by COVID-19.

Roper said he was concerned with how COVID-19 was disproportionately affecting space and aviation companies, which rely more heavily on commercial revenue than other parts of the defense industrial base.

“That's why we've taken such aggressive means to accelerate contract awards," said Roper. “We're worried about space, as well, especially microelectronics. All of the Space Acquisition Council shares that concern. And as we see the Chapter 11s being filed—we're tracking them—but our concern as an acquisition enterprise has got to be industrial base health and not picking winners or losers with specific companies. It's ensuring that we are engaging to have a healthy industrial base on the other side."

Roper added that he had approved the acceleration of a major satellite award that should be announced this week as part of the department's efforts to increase the flow of funding to defense companies during COVID-19.

https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/05/14/intelsat-declares-bankruptcy/

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27 août 2020 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR

Yahsat Boosts Thuraya's Next Generation Capabilities With A Commitment Of Over US$500 Million
ABU DHABI, UAE and TOULOUSE, France, Aug. 27, 2020 /CNW/ -- Airbus has been selected by Al Yah Satellite Communications Company (Yahsat), the UAE's leading global satellite operator, to build Thuraya 4-NGS, the next generation mobile telecommunications system that will drive the continued advancement of Thuraya's L-band business. Thuraya 4-NGS will deliver higher capabilities and flexibility while increasing capacity and coverage across Europe, Africa, Central Asia and the Middle East, enabling next generation mobility solutions for all customer segments, including defense, government and enterprise. Thuraya 4-NGS (Next Generation System) Yahsat Logo Airbus Logo This is a major milestone in Yahsat's commitment towards transforming Thuraya and rolling out its next-generation system, which entails a complete overhaul of its space and ground platforms, enabling a new set of services, products and solutions, across a greater coverage area. The new capabilities will drive leadership across many strategic product lines, such as maritime, IoT, and data solutions offering a wide spectrum of throughput capabilities and the highest speeds available in the market, while reinforcing Thuraya's strengths in the MSS voice market. Thuraya's next generation system will provide a world of opportunities to customers, service partners, hardware manufacturers and integrators, enhancing user experience across land, sea and air to support multiple customer segments, including government, consumer and enterprise. Furthermore, an advanced portfolio of solutions to support government and defense users will accelerate Thuraya's leadership in this market, both within the UAE, regionally and globally. Meanwhile, all existing products and services will continue to be supported by Thuraya's space and ground segments, enabling service continuity during and after the transformation programme. This latest commitment from Yahsat takes its total committed investment to date to well over US$500 million, and more is anticipated in the coming years, including an option with Airbus to build Thuraya 5-NGS (an additional satellite identical to Thuraya 4-NGS), strengthening its coverage and capabilities across the Asia Pacific region. Khaled Al Qubaisi, Chairman of Yahsat's Board of Directors and CEO of Mubadala's Aerospace, Renewables & ICT stated, "The half a billion US dollar commitment, underscores our position as a market leader, pioneer and disruptor. We are creating a multipurpose and flexible satellite ecosystem that is attuned for growth and future diversification and Thuraya 4-NGS is a key milestone in our ongoing mission to provide advanced yet affordable satellite solutions with levels of performance, reliability and security at the leading edge of today's technology." Ali Al Hashemi, CEO of Thuraya and General Manager of Yahsat Government Solutions (YGS) continued, "Thuraya 4-NGS represents a significant evolution of our L-band capabilities, enabling a wider range of interoperable FSS/MSS solutions for Thuraya and YGS customers. This will be critical in delivering superior defense solutions, such as battlefield communications, to our government users, while offering a complete MSS portfolio to all of our current and future customers and partners to drive the next phase of innovation and growth." Jean-Marc Nasr, Head of Airbus Space Systems said, "Building on a relationship with Yahsat that dates back more than 10 years, our selection is testament to the innovation and engineering excellence of Airbus' geostationary satellites. Thuraya 4-NGS, as well as being electric, will also benefit from our latest processed payload technology giving increased flexibility and adaptability over the course of its life in orbit. Yahsat's new project reinforces Airbus Defence and Space's position as the world's number one in electric propulsion satellites." Based on the state-of-the-art all-electric Airbus Eurostar Neo Platform, Thuraya 4-NGS will incorporate a large 12-metre L-band antenna and a payload with on-board processing providing advanced routing flexibility of up to 3200 channels with dynamic power allocation over a large number of spot beams. It is scheduled for operation in 2024. Photo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225048/Thuraya_Telecommunications_Company.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225075/Thuraya_Logo.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225047/Yahsat_Logo.jpg Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/1225046/Airbus_Logo.jpg SOURCE Thuraya Telecommunications Company https://www.newswire.ca/news-releases/yahsat-boosts-thuraya-s-next-generation-capabilities-with-a-commitment-of-over-us-500-million-855138288.html
23 avril 2020 | International, Aérospatial, Naval, Terrestre, C4ISR, Sécurité

COVID-19′s fiscal impact might ironically strengthen national defense
By: Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis (ret.) As Congress and the White House cope with the economic fallout of the coronavirus pandemic by passing multitrillion-dollar stimulus packages, many are already grappling with the thorny problem of how we'll eventually pay for the spike in spending. While no one ever wants to be a bill-payer, the defense industry is predictably first out of the blocks seeking immunity from any future cuts by trotting out its favorite weapon: fear. Don't be fooled by this tried-and-true tactic: The claim that any cuts to the defense budget will imperil defense is gravely mistaken. Without changes in the foreign policy we enact — and a rational reform of how we spend our defense dollars — our national security will continue to decay. First, the cold, hard economic reality: The damage done to our economy by the necessary measures federal and state governments have enacted to safeguard American lives has been breathtaking in its scope and severity. Some estimates suggest gross domestic product will contract this year by as much as 40 percent, and unemployment could balloon to 30 percent. To help stem the tide, Congress has already passed a $2 trillion stimulus package, with more yet to come. With an already massive national debt of $24 trillion, the combination of government spending and the loss of tax revenue is going to place serious pressure on future budgets for years to come. These bills will eventually have to be paid, and no area of the budget will be free from scrutiny — including defense. Though the Department of Defense should be funded to whatever level is required to ensure the ability of our armed forces to deter and, if necessary defeat any adversary that may seek to deprive our citizens of life or liberty, not all aspects of the status quo are helping keep us safe. Retired Army Lt. Gen. Thomas Spoehr recently co-wrote an article arguing that regardless of the financial strain imposed by the coronavirus stimulus bills, defense spending should be exempted. The reason, he says, is that the military today remains in a yearslong “free-fall” which “can't be fixed in a year or even four.” The last thing America's leaders should do when responding to the financial constraints imposed by the coronavirus, he concludes, is to “weaken the military.” His implications that military readiness has been in free fall because of inadequate spending and that any reduction in defense spending weakens the military are beliefs held by many — and are inaccurate for several key reasons. Clinging to forever wars might be the biggest. The DoD has to spend hundreds of billions annually to fight, maintain and prepare for subsequent deployments fighting the forever wars we've been waging for the better part of two decades. Congress has allocated more than $2 trillion in direct outlays since 9/11 to fight so-called emergency requirements of overseas contingency operations, or OCO, and we have incurred an additional $4 trillion in associated and long-term costs. For fiscal 2020 alone, we will spend upward of an additional $137 billion on these OCO wars. What is critical to understand, however, is that the perpetual continuation of these wars not only fails to improve our security — these fights negatively impact our ability to focus on and prepare for fighting adversaries that could one day pose an existential threat to us. The implications of this reality are considerable — and potential remedies can be of great help to our country. If President Donald Trump were to order an end to some or all of our unnecessary forever wars, we could instantly save more than $100 billion a year without cutting anything else in the defense budget. If we then conducted prudent and necessary reforms in how we manage research and development, procurement, and acquisition, and in shedding unnecessary or outdated expenditures, tens of billions of additional savings could be realized. Perhaps more importantly we could redirect much more focus and resources on training and professional education, which would enable the armed forces to better deter — and if necessary defeat — major opponents. Those two major changes alone would end the weakening of our military and materially contribute to strengthening its key capabilities — while lessening pressure on the federal budget. The financial pressures this coronavirus is already placing on our nation's finances is real, and its effects will be felt for years. We will have to make hard decisions in the days ahead on where we spend our limited resources. If we are wise, we can reduce how much we spend on defense while simultaneously increasing our military power. Retired U.S. Army Lt. Col. Daniel L. Davis is a senior fellow for Defense Priorities. He retired from the Army in 2015 after 21 years in service that included four combat deployments. https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2020/04/22/covid-19s-fiscal-impact-might-ironically-strengthen-national-defense/
20 novembre 2024 | International, C4ISR, Sécurité

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Intelsat declares bankruptcy

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