Workers remove the MASTIS terminal from HMAS Sydney at Sydney’s Garden Island before installing the new King Cobra SATCOM terminal. Photo: ADF.
The Royal Australian Navy has begun a program to upgrade shipborne satellite communications (SATCOM) aboard its vessels with a new Australian-designed system.
Called King Cobra, the new X/Ka tri-band maritime SATCOM system was developed by Brisbane-based EM Solutions – a sister company to Canberra’s EOS – with support from the Defence Innovation Hub.
The new system will replace the navy’s current 25-year-old Maritime Advanced SATCOM Terrestrial Infrastructure System (MASTIS) under Project SEA 1442 Phase 5.
The upgrade will provide an enhanced capability, including operating on the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) constellation, of which Australia is a partner with the US and other countries.
The certification of the system to operate with WGS was a key factor, as the ADF is likely to be a key user of that system for many years to come following the shelving of the ADF’s Project JP 9102 SATCOM project by the government last November.
The King Cobra is compatible with geostationary, low and medium Earth orbit (GEO, LEO, and MEO) satellites, as well as highly elliptical orbit (HEO) satellites, which provide SATCOM in high latitudes such as the Arctic or Antarctic regions.
EM Solutions says the terminal is one of the first to be able to utilise all the different types of communications satellites, and that its proprietary monopulse tracking system provides superior link maintenance.
The Cobra and King Cobra terminals were selected to replace MASTIS in 2023 through a $150 million acquisition contract with Defence’s Capability Acquisition and Sustainment Group (CASG).
All three Hobart-class destroyers, the six remaining Anzac-class frigates, two Canberra-class LHDs, two Supply-class AORs, and the LSD HMAS Choules will be retrofitted with the terminals over the next few years.
And while the six forthcoming locally built Project SEA 5000 Hunter-class frigates are still some years away, and the planned 11 SEA 3000 Mogami-class frigates that will be acquired from Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries have been specified to be as similar in configuration to Japanese ships as possible, it is likely both classes will receive the same SATCOM system as the rest of the fleet.
EM Solutions also provided the Cobra M3 X/Ka Triband terminal for the navy’s six Arafura-class OPVs, the first of which was commissioned in July.
John Logan, EM Solutions’ vice-president of programs, said: “Through a technology evolution program, EM Solutions aims to support the navy in managing SATCOM technology evolution and obsolescence management continuously.
“The trust shown by the ADF in EM Solutions, transitioning from a component supplier to a prime contractor, is a credit to everyone who has contributed to our business to achieve this significant milestone, as with our previous contract negotiations with CASG.”
