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GATR unveils new SATCOM antenna

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U.S. Marines with Special Purpose Marine Air-Ground Task Force-Crisis Response-Africa set up network satellite communications through a GATR satellite at Morón Air Base, Spain, on July 25, 2016. Cubic’s GATR antenna is providing internet connectivity in San Juan, Puerto Rico, after Hurricane Maria devastated the island. (Sgt. Tia Nagle/U.S. Marines)

GATR Technologies has introduced a new inflatable satellite communications antenna.

“The extremely portable, four-meter GATR Tropo can be packed into five cases weighing less than 620 pounds total and is 50 to 80 percent less in volume and weight than the current rigid troposcatter antennas,” according to a company news release. “Troposcatter antennas transmit and receive microwave signals at beyond-line-of-sight distances, as far as 200 miles without SATCOM, by bouncing radio signals off layers of the Earth’s atmosphere (troposphere).”

The antenna can be set up in less than an hour. It comes in 4-meter and 2.4-meter versions.

About 

Michael Peck is a correspondent for Defense News and a columnist for the Center for European Policy Analysis. He holds an M.A. in political science from Rutgers University. Find him at theuncommondefense.com. His email is mikedefense1@gmail.com.