MDA announced today that it was selected by Airbus OneWeb Satellites to design and build Ka-Band steerable antennas for their Arrow small satellite platform.
Airbus OneWeb Satellites LLC (AOS) is a joint venture between Airbus and OneWeb. The AOS satellites are manufactured in Merritt Island, Florida for the OneWeb constellation and Airbus customers.
AOS and their Arrow platform was recently selected by Northrop Grumman to provide 42 Arrow platforms for the Space Development Agency (SDA). As well, the Arrow platform was recently selected by Loft Orbital for 15 satellites.
Mike Greenley, CEO of MDA said in a statement that “We are pleased to be selected by Airbus OneWeb Satellites to support important applications for space and communications constellations, this contract represents another opportunity to demonstrate MDA’s best-in-class satellite design and manufacturing capabilities.”
MDA first announced its partnership with OneWeb in 2015 and in November of 2021 announced they had “completed a major production milestone with the build of serial number 500 of the OneWeb gateway LEO constellation program.”
While MDA continues its partnership with OneWeb, it’s interesting to note that AirBus, which acquired an interest in OneWeb during its bankruptcy, is now part of that partnership, demonstrating that the two primes can work together.