Satellite signal receiver brief at the Schriever AFB

Reacher is a mobile X‐Band Satellite ground terminal (SGT) acquired by the

British Ministry Of Defence The Ministry of Defence (MOD or MoD) is the department responsible for implementing the defence policy set by His Majesty's Government, and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces. The MOD states that its principal objectives are to ...

, it is designed to replace all medium and large legacy SGTs used in the land environment. It is intended to deliver services through

Skynet 5 Skynet is a family of military communications satellites, now operated by Airbus Defence and Space on behalf of the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (MoD). They provide strategic and tactical communication services to the branches of the ...

satellites, and to assist in the transition to

TCP/IP The Internet protocol suite, commonly known as TCP/IP, is a framework for organizing the set of communication protocols used in the Internet and similar computer networks according to functional criteria. The foundational protocols in the suit ...

network protocol services. Reacher was brought into service in 2007. Secure communications are delivered through the Skynet 5

private finance initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating " public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 1 ...

contract with

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...

(previously Paradigm Secure Communications) in partnership with Information Systems and Services at

MoD Corsham MOD Corsham (formerly Basil Hill Barracks) is a Ministry of Defence establishment located between the towns of Corsham and Box in Wiltshire, England. History The War Office bought a section of the Pockeridge estate to provide space for Basil H ...

Variants

Reacher came initially in three variants, 44 of which were delivered to the military: * Reacher Large, mounted on a

MOWAG Duro The DURO (''Durable Robust'') is a series of wheeled, multi-purpose military transport vehicles produced by General Dynamics European Land Systems/MOWAG in both four and six wheel drive. It was initially developed for Switzerland by Bucher-Gu ...

III vehicle, provides an assured data rate of 8 Mbit/s through a

antenna Antenna ( antennas or antennae) may refer to: Science and engineering * Antenna (radio), also known as an aerial, a transducer designed to transmit or receive electromagnetic (e.g., TV or radio) waves * Antennae Galaxies, the name of two collid ...

. Reacher Large takes15 minutes to set up and can only be used when stationary. * Reacher Medium is mounted on a MOWAG Duro III 6 x 6 vehicle and provides an assured data rate of 2 Mbit/s through a antenna. It is ready for immediate use. * Reacher

Royal Marine The Corps of Royal Marines (RM), also known as the Royal Marines Commandos, are the UK's special operations capable commando force, amphibious light infantry and also one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy. The Corps of Royal Marin ...

(RM). Reacher RM is mounted on two amphibious

Bandvagn 206 Bandvagn 206 (Bv 206) (meaning ''"Tracked Vehicle 206"'' in English) is a Tracked articulated vehicle, tracked articulated, all-terrain carrier developed by Hägglunds (now part of BAE Systems Platforms & Services) for the Swedish Army. It consis ...

vehicles and provides an assured data rate of 2 Mbit/s through a 2.4 m antenna. It is designed for use in amphibious warfare. It has been used in

operation telic Operation Telic (Op TELIC) was the codename under which all of the United Kingdom's military operations in Iraq were conducted between the start of the invasion of Iraq on 19 March 2003 and the withdrawal of the last remaining British forces on ...

and herrick on land in the same role as Reacher Medium. As of 2014, two new variants were under development: * High Capacity Reacher, a variant of Reacher Medium to deliver throughput up to 32 Mbit/s * Reacher Hub, a variant of Reacher Large to deliver throughput up to 64 Mbit/s and the ability to interoperate with commercial satellite terminals

Transport

All Reacher terminals are transportable using Chinook

helicopters A helicopter is a type of rotorcraft in which lift and thrust are supplied by horizontally spinning rotors. This allows the helicopter to take off and land vertically, to hover, and to fly forward, backward and laterally. These attribute ...

(underslung). The Large variant can be transported by C17 and the Medium and RM variants by C130.

References

{{reflist Military communications of the United Kingdom