12 Jun 2020

Home Office awards new ESN aircraft comms contracts

The Home Office has awarded two companies the contracts to complete aircraft ‘transmitting portable electronic devices’ (TPED) as part of the Emergency Services Network roll-out.

The companies in question are Specialist Aviation Services and Gama Aviation. According to a statement, TPEDs facilitate the carrying out of electro-magnetic compatibility testing on emergency services aircraft, prior to the installation of comms.

Speaking of the contracts, a spokesperson for the Emergency Services Mobile Communications Programme said: “ESN is the next generation of critical communications for the three emergency services and other user organisations. An element of ESN is the development of a 4G LTE air to ground network, and aircraft communication system.

“The Home Office has engaged both Specialist Aviation Services and Gama Aviation to complete this testing on a number of different aircraft, to gain approval from EASA (European Union Aviation Safety Agency).”

Scott McVicar, managing director for Europe ground at Gama, said: “I believe [this contract] demonstrates our continued ability to deliver appropriate solutions across a wide variety of current and future missions for the UK’s emergency services.”

Both contracts have been awarded until April 2021.