The EAST project (Euro African Satellite Telecommunications) - an opportunity for the armed forces to use commercial satcom system

The satellite communication world is rapidly evolving towards an extensive diversification of offered services. Under the pressure of public or private demand, commercial market growth incites investors, service providers, operators and system designers to elaborate innovative satcom projects capable of satisfying a wide range of potential users. It seems unthinkable that the military community shouldn't seek to take advantage of the attractive capabilities offered by these emerging systems either as standard subscribers, or as specific users. The paper presents one of these new projects, named EAST (Euro African Satellite Telecommunication), developed under an initiative of Matra Marconi Space and destinated to offer mobile and fixed communication services. After a description of the system architecture and performance, what the military may expect from the system is discussed.