Inmarsat reports that L-3 Global Communications Solutions (L-3 GCS), a specialist in the supply of deployable satellite communications solutions and turnkey systems, has received type approval from Inmarsat for its range of military Ka-band terminals, authorizing their use over the Global Xpress (GX) network.

This marks an important milestone in the development of GX, the first globally available high-speed broadband network, which is on schedule to achieve full global coverage by the end of 2014.

L-3 GCS' type approval covers its industry leading family of terminals, which are used extensively by military and other government customers in the US and across the world.

The specific devices covered by the Ka-band type approval announced are the Panther .6m, Hawkeye III Lite 1.2m, and Hawkeye III 1.6m, 2.0m and 2.4m terminals.

Peter Hadinger, President of Inmarsat's US Government Business Unit, said: "Global Xpress is powering ahead and is on course to achieve full global coverage by the close of 2014.

Military customers in the US and other countries have shown significant interest in the capabilities of GX and so we are delighted that the first of many GX-capable military grade terminals are now type approved.

This will now allow those government users to augment their use of WGS and other national systems with our GX High Capacity Beams and the exact same SATCOM terminal. To have achieved this in less than 12 months, when L-3 GCS was appointed as a GX launch partner, is testament to their commitment to Inmarsat's game-changing service."

"L-3 GCS is particularly honored to have been the first type approved terminal partner for Global Xpress. Having our military Ka-band terminals type approved means our valued customers will now have access to the super-fast, on-demand, global coverage of the GX service with their current ARSTRAT certified terminals," said Bill Harrington, Vice President of Engineering and L-3 lead for Inmarsat GX programs.