Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., which is acquiring Stellar Blu Solutions, has amended its purchase agreement with the San Diego-headquartered satcom terminal solutions provider, and is looking to close the deal within a week.
In a notice to the US Securities and Exchange Commission, Gilat said the purchase agreement was amended on 11 December 2024. Pursuant to the amendment, the two parties agreed that the acquisition will be consummated on 6 January 2025 “given that all required approvals under the purchase agreement have been received”.
The prior anticipated closing date of 17 December 2024 has been changed to 7 January 2025.
Under the terms of the original purchase agreement with Stellar Blu, Gilat agreed to make an initial cash payment of $98 million at closing, subject to customary adjustments, and up to an additional $147 million payable in cash “subject to the achievement of post-closing financial and business goals”. The Israeli firm said it would finance the acquisition with its existing cash reserves and an external credit facility.
Once the deal is completed, Stellar Blu will become a core part of Gilat’s inflight connectivity growth strategy. The firm has already made important gains in the market. Its first-generation, single-beam, multi-orbit Sidewinder electronically steered antenna (ESA) terminal, which uses scalable subarrays from BAE Systems (formerly Ball Aerospace), is capable of talking to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) or geostationary (GEO) satellites and switching between the two.
Sidewinder forms the basis of both Intelsat and Panasonic Avionics’ next-generation multi-orbit IFC systems, with both aero ISPs offering the kit for retrofit installations (Air Canada is already flying the hardware on a cluster of CRJ900s.) Sidewinder is also going through the offerability process for linefit status at Boeing.
“The Stellar Blu antenna is performing extremely well and we’re very happy with it, and so for the foreseeable future, I think that’s the antenna that we’re going to be using,” Panasonic Avionics vice president, connectivity business unit John Wade told RGN in a recent interview, following Panasonic’s flight testing of the kit in the United States and the Arctic. Panasonic is now flight testing the ESA at the Equator and the Galapagos, including maximum throughput and resiliency testing.
Sidewinder as installed on a Cessna Citation testbed. Image: Fargo Jet Center/Stellar Blu Solutions
Sidewinder is categorized by the Seamless Air Alliance as a Type 3 antenna: hybrid with limited GEO coverage. At present, single-beam ESA solutions such as Sidewinder are favored for here-and-now aircraft installs.
Dual-beam ESAs, which can simultaneously talk to LEO and GEO satellites, are under intensive study, but require more rigorous heat dissipation measures than single-beam ESAs due to their higher wattage. Airbus, for instance, is understood to have placed its Ku-band dual-beam ESA program on ice, with terminal provider Safran Passenger Innovations confirming “recent changes” to the Ku-band side of the Airbus HBCplus supplier-furnished IFC program. We await clarity on the airframer’s next steps.
For its part, Gilat is already a prominent aero modem provider in commercial aviation. Its SkyEdge IV Taurus aero modem and prior-gen SkyEdge II-c modem compete with modems on offer from Hughes Network Systems and ST Engineering iDirect. Gilat’s aero modems support Intelsat’s 2Ku inflight connectivity installations, for instance.
In an update to the market this week, Gilat announced it has secured an additional $18 million-plus in new orders for IFC solutions, mainly for Gilat SkyEdge platforms, related services and solid state power amplifiers. The equipment and services are scheduled for delivery within the next 12 months.
“These orders reflect the growing demand for advanced connectivity solutions for the IFC market, which is a strategic market for us,” said Amir Yafe, Gilat’s VP of mobility & global accounts. “Gilat‘s technology is designed to equip service providers with the scalability and performance needed to meet this demand head-on.”
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Featured image credited to istock.com/Herbert Pictures
