Airbus has progressed in its antenna studies for the Ku-band side of its linefit, supplier-furnished HBCplus inflight connectivity program and is ‘fine-tuning’ elements of the previously-announced concept, but the timeline for entry-into-service has moved to the right and will likely be “latest in 2027”.
The European airframer was previously aiming to debut a Ku-band HBCplus product on new deliveries in 2026 but sees a 2027 debut as nicely aligning with the introduction of new Ka-band Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellations, Airbus head of connected aircraft Tim Sommer told Runway Girl Network in a wide-ranging interview in advance of the massive Aircraft Interiors Expo in Hamburg, which will take place on 8-10 April 2025.
In terms of LEO broadband, SpaceX Starlink and Eutelsat OneWeb are of course available now in the Ku-band, and Project Kuiper and Telesat Lightspeed are forthcoming in the Ka-band. Lightspeed is already in line to be added as a “Ka-band LEO satellite network operator” on HBCplus.
Sommer explained the relevance to RGN in the context of our discussion about Ku-band HBCplus:
[W]e are advancing, and we are staying true to our strategy and vision of moving into basically flexible and open architectures and solutions for our customers to be able to bring on board the widest possible choice of service providers which are out there on the market.
And one priority in that sense is, and remains, to have a product which is available on the Ku segment for sure. And the second priority is obviously to make also all the new coming, new constellations available, independently of Ka or Ku, as soon as they are available because you know some of them are not yet operational.
He said the IFC market is “accelerating towards LEO”.
“In that context so yes, we are progressing on the activities,” continued Sommer. “As you’ve seen last year, we’ve shown a product concept for how the Ku solution could look like and we communicated as well that we are working with Get SAT on that. We continue to work on a solution based on an ESA [electronically steerable antenna]. We still believe that Get SAT is a promising antenna solution. We have, in the meantime, refined and revisited some elements of that product to take into account what I just said.”
Safran Passenger Innovations (SPI) was tapped to provide the Get SAT-based terminal to Airbus for the HBCplus program (it is also providing the now-in-service Ka-band terminal, based on ThinKom Solutions’ Ka2517 VICTS hardware). Late last year, SPI confirmed to RGN that “there have been some recent changes” on the Ku-band side of the program, after we asked about how heat dissipation issues would be addressed for the large Get SAT LEO/GEO ESA, which boasts power-hungry, dual-beam functionality.
At AIX 2024, Airbus displayed a Safran Passenger Innovations terminal concept with a now Thales-owned Get SAT dual-beam electronically steered antenna for the Ku-band side of its HBCplus program. Image: Mary Kirby
Will Airbus’ fresh refinements to the concept include a second antenna to support multi-beam/multi-band connectivity, or perhaps a rejig of the original hardware to simply accommodate single beam operation (versus dual), akin to the Gilat/Stellar Blu Sidewinder ESA that Intelsat and Panasonic Avionics — each a managed service provider under Ku-band HBCplus — are using for their retrofit hardware and Boeing linefit? Gilat and ThinKom are each hopeful that Airbus will tweak the Ku-band side of the program in their favor.
But what might the ultimate configuration look like? Airbus’ Sommer would not be drawn on deep specifics before AIX. He revealed that Airbus is looking at how it can support Delta as it brings Hughes Fusion (a hybrid, multi-beam, multi-band ThinKom Ka2517 VICTS + Hughes Ku-band LEO ESA product) to select new-delivery A321neos and A350s. So perhaps we should expect a Service Bulletin installation on that front. But in Sommer’s mind, whilst a next generation solution should indeed support multi-orbit flexibility, a different package may make sense for Airbus.
“So, a combination for example of a LEO with something which is maybe LEO/GEO, but maybe in an architecture which is a bit simpler and a bit lighter in terms of footprint and maybe also in terms of integration on the aircraft,” he said.
Airbus’ MSP partners on the program are also staying mum for now, with Intelsat director program management Rob Baird telling RGN: “We’re pleased with the solution. We think they’ve got a great technology there and a great technology partner behind it. So, we’re really happy with the progress they’re making. We’re excited by it and you know, we’re keen to continue that MSP partnership with them just as soon as we can.”
We hope to learn more at the show.
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Featured image credited to Airbus
