OneWeb to help US Air Force connect in Arctic region

ANCHORAGE, Alaska (KTUU) - OneWeb, the low Earth orbit satellite communications company, is partnering with Hughes Network Systems and the U.S. Air Force research lab to help bring high-speed internet to projects in the Arctic region.

“We’re getting a really strong demand signal from the DOD (Department of Defense) for low earth orbit polar connectivity and that is a component of our global constellation, an important component, but one that they see brings a new edge to their missions,” said Dylan Brown, the Head of Government Services for OneWeb.

According to Brown, the advantage that OneWeb provides is an ability to supply high-speed internet to the world’s most remote regions via their large constellation of LEO satellites.

“The US government have really empowered a particular laboratory which is the Air Force research lab, actually out of Dayton Ohio that’s where they’re based, but this activity takes us into the polar regions,” Brown said. “We’re not really at liberty to say where, but yeah it takes us to a domain where the DOD exercise and operate, and frankly there are no commercial satellite solutions of high-speed today so this is a new capability for them.”

OneWeb is also looking to bring that same high-speed connectivity to Alaska’s most rural residents. Brown said the tech company has two remaining rocket launches scheduled before that can happen. Each launch is set to deploy 36 satellites that will link up with the 182 satellites that are already orbiting.

If the two remaining launches are completed as planned, OneWeb could be offering up their services later this calendar year.

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