MCLEAN, Va., - Iridium Communications Inc. announced Thales as the newest Iridium Certus aviation service provider. Thales will now be able to offer both Iridium Certus terminals and Iridium Certus connectivity services to business jets, commercial aircraft, rotorcraft, general aviation and UAVs.
Iridium Certus will enhance the company's existing suite of aircraft safety services, including providing Iridium Future Air Navigation System (FANS) applications such as standard and improved ADS-C, controller-pilot data link communications and ATS Safety Voice, once certifications are complete.
Beyond safety services, Iridium Certus will deliver flight deck and business cabin-friendly internet capabilities such as electronic flight bag services, graphical weather, blackbox streaming, email, credit card processing, VPN access and social media posting and monitoring.
Thales plans to be first to market with an Iridium Certus aviation product and has a unique place in the Iridium Certus partner ecosystem as the only company manufacturing land, maritime and aviation terminals. This includes a hybrid FlytLINK solution that combines Iridium Certus capabilities with Iridium's traditional narrowband services, including safety services, which will be available with its initial release.
With low latency, Iridium Certus will be a suitable solution for the Aeronautical Telecommunications Network (ATN) Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) capability deployed in Europe for domestic en-route communications. Looking ahead, Iridium has also been working closely with major international aviation organizations and ANSPs on the development of the ATN Internet Protocol Suite (IPS), which will offer a more efficient and capable alternative to existing options for aircraft transitioning from Oceanic to Domestic satellite communications.
