DSEI 2025: Orbit's MPT30Ka satcom tested on 12 m USV

Image of Orbit's MPT30Ka satcom for military vehicles, maritime vessels, and rapid deployment. (Orbit Communication Systems)

Orbit Communication Systems' MPT30Ka satellite communications (satcom) on-the-move (SOTM) terminal has been tested while mounted on a 12 m unmanned surface vehicle (USV), Lior Rudminsky, vice-president of products and solutions at Orbit, told Janes on 9 September at the Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2025 exhibition held in London.

The company representative did not go into details around when or where the testing with the USV took place. “The idea is that the system will send all of the data in real time to headquarters,” Rudminsky said. The 20 kg MPT30Ka SOTM also underwent a series of tests at the ‘Robotic Experimentation and Prototyping with Maritime Unmanned Systems' (REPMUS) naval exercise in September 2024. The company does not plan to test the system at ‘REPMUS' 2025, which takes place from 1 to 26 September.

The MPT30Ka SOTM meets a series of military standards including MIL-STD-461G/810G/1275. It also operates in global navigation satellite services (GNSS)-denied environments and is resilient to electromagnetic interference, according to Rudminsky. He added that “there are interferences coming at the satellite like GPS jamming and we have the mechanisms to overcome that by operating without GPS. We do this by jumping in between the polarisations and in between networks”.

The system is “battle-proven in conflict zones” and is operational in multi-orbit geostationary/medium/high/low Earth orbit (GEO/MEO/HEO/LEO) satellite constellations as well as at multipolarisations, according to Rudminsky. “We're also getting feedback from the field, and we are then able to embed [updates] to the system,” he said.

The MPT30Ka terminal can be mounted on various land or maritime vehicles for rapid deployment, according to the company.