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notablecontract2026-10-06

Northrop Grumman selects ThinKom antenna for Navy's new TACAMO aircraft

Northrop Grumman · ThinKom

ThinKom's ThinAir SATCOM antenna will fly on the Navy's E-130J Phoenix II, the aircraft taking over the nuclear-command TACAMO mission.

Image: thinkom.com
// sources · 2 attached
  1. [1]trade presssatellitetoday.com↗
  2. [2]press wire · corroborationthinkom.com↗

what happened

Northrop Grumman selected ThinKom's ThinAir SATCOM antenna, using its VICTS phased-array design, to equip the U.S. Navy's E-130J Phoenix II aircraft, per ThinKom's own release and Via Satellite. The E-130J Phoenix II is replacing the E-6B Mercury fleet on the Navy's TACAMO (Take Charge and Move Out) mission, which provides connectivity between the National Command Authority and U.S. nuclear forces; ThinKom said the antenna meets the mission's requirements for high-bandwidth, beyond-line-of-sight communications across both geostationary and non-geostationary satellites, with anti-jam and survivability features. Financial terms were not disclosed.

why it matters

Winning the antenna slot on a nuclear command-and-control aircraft is a high-assurance reference win for ThinKom's multi-orbit terminal line, the kind of national-security credential that competing antenna makers point to when bidding for other strategic military satcom programs.

for who

Military satcom antenna suppliers

signal-to-noise

WIDELY REPORTED
4/5
leadtier 3 of 5 on its owncorrob+1 earned from 1 rule
calculation
3base tier 3 from lead source class "trade" (Via Satellite) satellitetoday.com+12 distinct sources (>=2)
= 4current score, recomputed by the engine on every change
scorer v2how scores work →

quick facts

Companies
Northrop Grumman, ThinKom
Category
contract
Impact
notable
SNR
4 / 5
Event date
2026-10-06
Published
2026-10-06 23:12 UTC
#connectivity

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