Country for PR: United States
Contributor: PR Newswire New York
Thursday, March 05 2020 - 09:00
AsiaNet
Viasat, Blacktree Technology Sign Agreement to Enhance Support for the Australian Defence Force and Five Eyes Partners
CANBERRA, Australia, Mar. 5, 2020 /PRNewswire-AsiaNet/--

--Agreement Focuses on Providing Advanced Manufacturing and Support Services 
for Ultra High Frequency Satellite Communications Terminals

Viasat Inc ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2739011-1&h=3820776862&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.viasat.com%2F&a=Viasat+Inc.%C2%A0 
). (NASDAQ: VSAT), a global communications company, today announced it signed a 
Strategic Alliance Agreement (SAA) with Blacktree Technology,Pty Ltd 
(Blacktree), ( http://www.blacktree.com.au/ ) an Australian-based 
communications systems design and integration company, in November 2019. The 
SAA will enable Viasat and Blacktree to meet the needs of the Australian 
Defence Force (ADF) requirements, by providing rapid and cost-effective 
in-country manufacturing and support services for Ultra High Frequency (UHF) 
satellite communications (SATCOM) systems. 

Colin Cooper, general manager, Government Systems, Viasat Australia commented, 
"Our agreement with Blacktree will play a critical role in supporting and 
expanding UHF support and maintenance resources in Australia, and will provide 
opportunities to investigate export of UHF products and services to Five Eyes 
(FVEY) and coalition UHF military SATCOM user nations."  

"Blacktree welcomes the formalisation of the alliance with Viasat, which 
strengthens a relationship that enhances ongoing innovation and development of 
UHF SATCOM solutions and support for Defence customers in Australia and 
internationally," said Joe Nevin, director, Blacktree Technology. 

Viasat's leadership in critical technology segments such as SATCOM, tactical 
networks and cybersecurity offers an opportunity for Australia to modernise 
systems used by the ADF. Viasat is a leader in UHF SATCOM and is working to 
assure global 25-kHz Demand-Assigned Multiple-Access and next-generation 
Integrated Waveform (IW) networks and services, enabled by Viasat's Visual 
Integrated Satellite communications Information, Operation and Networking 
(VISION) software platform continue to meet military mission requirements ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2739011-1&h=3424568988&u=http%3A%2F%2Finvestors.viasat.com%2Fnews-releases%2Fnews-release-details%2Fviasat-completed-nato-uhf-satellite-communications-control&a=mission+requirements 
). 

Viasat's Ka-band broadband satellites combined currently offer more bandwidth 
than any other satellite operator in the world.  Viasat is a vertically 
integrated satellite communications technology and services company, and is a 
leading provider of highly integrated GEO payloads, components & subsystems, 
gateway/teleport antenna systems, networking systems, user terminals for fixed 
& mobile applications, ASICs, MMICS, and/or modules for third party terminal 
developers.
Importantly from a defence perspective, beginning in 2021, Viasat plans to 
launch a new, global ViaSat-3 constellation of resilient, flexible and agile 
high-capacity communications satellites that will improve responsiveness of 
current and emergent defence mission threats.

Viasat's Australian Government Systems business is headquartered in Canberra 
and provides a wide range of defence technology capabilities and sovereign 
resources ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2739011-1&h=1126208963&u=http%3A%2F%2Finvestors.viasat.com%2Fnews-releases%2Fnews-release-details%2Fviasats-suite-network-encryption-products-available-use-five&a=sovereign+resources 
) to meet Australia's needs.

The range of products being developed and supported by Blacktree include 
high-gain UHF helical antenna's, static and remote-control pedestal systems, 
filters and diplexers, HPA's, LNA's and RF management components. Blacktree's 
products are manufactured in Perth, complemented by support teams located in 
Darwin and Canberra, Australia.

About Viasat
Viasat is a global communications company that believes everyone and everything 
in the world can be connected. For more than 30 years, Viasat has helped shape 
how consumers, businesses, governments and militaries around the world 
communicate. Today, the Company is developing the ultimate global 
communications network to power high-quality, secure, affordable, fast 
connections to impact people's lives anywhere they are--on the ground, in the 
air or at sea. To learn more about Viasat, visit: www.viasat.com, go to 
Viasat's Corporate Blog ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2739011-1&h=960529503&u=https%3A%2F%2Fcorpblog.viasat.com%2F&a=Viasat%27s+Corporate+Blog 
), or follow the Company on social media at: Facebook ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2739011-1&h=1424178680&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.facebook.com%2FViaSat&a=Facebook 
), Instagram ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2739011-1&h=44654933&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.instagram.com%2Fviasatinc%2F&a=Instagram 
), LinkedIn ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2739011-1&h=2655474498&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.linkedin.com%2Fcompany%2Fviasat&a=LinkedIn 
), Twitter ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2739011-1&h=437546258&u=https%3A%2F%2Ftwitter.com%2FViaSatInc&a=Twitter 
) or YouTube ( 
https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=2739011-1&h=605875738&u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fuser%2FViaSatInc&a=YouTube 
).

About Blacktree Technology
Blacktree Technology is a trusted global supplier of critical communications 
solutions. For the past 20 years Blacktree has been solving communication 
problems in challenging and geographically diverse environments for commercial, 
industrial and Defence customers. Based on the west coast of Australia, the 
Company is supporting the ADF whilst growing exports to customers in FVEY 
partner nations. To learn more about Blacktree Technology, visit 
www.blacktree.com.au, or follow the Company on social media at Linkedin.

Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements that are subject to the 
safe harbors created under the Securities Act of 1933 and the Securities 
Exchange Act of 1934. Forward-looking statements include statements that refer 
to the strategic alliance agreement between Viasat and Blacktree Technology, 
including the provision of UHF SATCOM systems manufacturing and support 
services to the ADF, FVEY and coalition nations; and the performance, 
capabilities and anticipated benefits of the ViaSat-3 class satellite platform, 
including the expected capacity, coverage, flexibility and other features of 
the ViaSat-3 constellation. Readers are cautioned that actual results could 
differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking 
statements. Factors that could cause actual results to differ include: the 
ability to realize the anticipated benefits of the ViaSat-3 satellite platform; 
unexpected expenses or delays related to the ViaSat-3 satellite platform; risks 
associated with the construction, launch and operation of ViaSat-3 and Viasat's 
other satellites, including the effect of any anomaly, operational failure or 
degradation in satellite performance; manufacturing issues or delays; 
contractual problems; regulatory issues; technologies not being developed 
according to anticipated schedules, or that do not perform according to 
expectations; and increased competition and other factors affecting the 
government and defence sectors generally. In addition, please refer to the risk 
factors contained in Viasat's SEC filings available at www.sec.gov, including 
Viasat's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and Quarterly Reports on Form 
10-Q. Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking 
statements, which speak only as of the date on which they are made. Viasat 
undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements for 
any reason.

Copyright (C) 2020 Viasat, Inc. All rights reserved. Viasat, the Viasat logo 
and the Viasat signal are registered trademarks of Viasat, Inc. All other 
product or company names mentioned are used for identification purposes only 
and may be trademarks of their respective owners.

SOURCE:  Viasat, Inc.

CONTACT: Jamie Clegg
         Public Relations
         Viasat Government Systems
         +1-760-893-3609;

         James.Clegg@viasat.com OR June Harrison
         Investor Relations
         +1-760-476-2633
         IR@viasat.com