DISA Awards $410M BPA to Inmarsat for Blue Force Tracker Support

The Defense Information Systems Agency has awarded Inmarsat Government the U.S. Army Blue Force Tracker Network Services blanket purchase agreement, which has a maximum value of $410 million over a base period of one year. DISA aims to procure L-band satellite communications on the ELERA network between BFT transceivers and satellite earth stations, Inmarsat reported Monday.

The BPA win extends Inmarsat’s history of support for BFT, the Army’s situational awareness network and friendly force location system integrated across a wide array of platforms. According to CEO Susan Miller, the deal also enables command and control capabilities for deployed personnel across land, sea or air.

In 2021, the Army exercised a fourth one-year option on an existing contract with Comtech Telecommunications to provide engineering, satellite operations and program management support for the BFT program. The company secured $6.2 million in additional funds from the move.

Recent Army activities involving satellites include a two-year cooperative research agreement with HawkEye 360 to analyze radio frequency data and assess its potential for the detection of GPS jamming by adversaries.

July saw the service’s Combat Capabilities Development Command award a deal to Kratos Defense and Security Solutions to simulate a SATCOM ground system, informing future efforts to centralize gateway and remote terminal services.