Johannesburg, 19 Oct 2008
Following the global launch of the 'Suitcase CCT120' portable satellite communication system from SWE-DISH Satellite Systems, Tellumat Defence (North) has been named its sub-Saharan African distributor.
The announcement was made at the Africa Aerospace and Defence expo, held at the Ysterplaat Air Force Base last month, where Tellumat and SWE-DISH exhibited the CCT120 and other products.
Magnus Wallmark, Director, Business Development of SWE-DISH, says the choice fell to Tellumat as a top South African player with good relationships in the armed forces, a commendable service record and first-rate support skills and infrastructure.
“The outlook for local business is very good, with a number of programmes requiring satcom systems over the next three to five years,” he adds.
Colin Meintjes, Tellumat Defence Managing Executive for the group's Northern South African region, says Tellumat is looking forward to marketing what has been a “missing part of Tellumat's defence communication arsenal”. This part of Tellumat is predominantly a radar specialist that supplies, installs and supports an extensive range of global defence communication brands. It has also re-designed and manufactured components in certain cases.
Removing one degree of separation
Both Tellumat and SWE-DISH have ties to SAAB from Sweden, concerning SAAB's Arthur Weapon-Locating Radar. The CCT is used in conjunction with the Arthur, for relaying its battlefield intelligence to a command and control system.
The CCT120 succeeds the CCT90 in the 'CommuniCase' range of small, powerful satcom systems that have transformed the way leading news networks, international peace-keeping forces and emergency first-response personnel communicate from remote areas.
Its antenna is larger than that of the CCT 90 (1.2 metres in diameter) and capable of higher throughput, but it is as portable as the CCT90 when folded up, and affords high mobility due to an ultra-compact form factor. Like the CCT90, it has a modular architecture, creating a line of easily exchanged terminals, designed to meet current as well as future operational needs.
Customers of the older system can easily slot in the larger antenna. Like all CommuniCase products, the CCT120 features multiple modules - a plug-in modem, an antenna system, a controller and transceiver - all of which can easily be replaced and used with current as well as future SWE-DISH CommuniCase products.
“Selecting from CommuniCase modules, users can deploy different transceivers to support multi-band capacity, and also inter-change various antenna sizes and modems,” says Wallmark. “Once invested in one of our systems, it is very easy and cost-effective to upgrade and enhance a customer's satcom capabilities.”
Shortly after the global launch of the CCT120, leading South-Asian broadcaster GeoTV took delivery of a fleet of the satellite systems.
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