US Military buys Windmill International SPRS

Windmill International, Inc. announced that it has received a $9 million order for their KA-10 Suitcase Portable Receive Suite (SPRS) for Central Command Special Forces in Afghanistan. The order included KA-10s, training, and product support. Windmill's KA-10 SPRS is a highly-portable, rugged satellite receiver system developed to support Special Operations forces deployed overseas. The battle-ready KA-10 conveniently brings crucial command center information and data to the in-field warfighter, substantially improving mission success probabilities and saving lives.

The KA-10 can withstand a variety of adverse environmental conditions, including high humidity, blowing sand, rain, and extreme heat/cold. The SPRS has passed all MIL-STD-810F requirements.

The SPRS has Global Broadcast Service (GBS) broadcast reception capability--at up to 45Mb/sec--from UHF Follow-On (UFO) and Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) transponders. The SPRS supports operation with High-Assurance IP Encryption (HAIPE) to support a single security enclave from Secret up to Top Secret/Sensitive Compartmented Information (TS/SCI) classification. Satellite acquisition time is approximately 3 minutes due to Windmill's patented auto-acquisition capability. The SPRS is designed to be battery operated. This truly portable unit weighs just 32 pounds in tactical carry mode. Accessible GBS products include unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) video and imagery; weather, terrain, geospatial and mapping information; Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) imagery; streaming video, web content replication and other large files.

Windmill developed the KA-10 SPRS under the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program - and Windmill was recognized with a 2011 Tibbett's Award from the Small Business Administration for excellence in the SBIR program. Operational field evaluations of the initial KA-10 were conducted under the Defense Acquisition Challenge Program. Windmill is currently developing an even smaller, more specialized version using funding from the Air Force's Warfighter Rapid Acquisition Program.

Source: Windmill International