Britain is looking to deploy high-speed optical satellite links for its armed forces, with the aim of providing faster and more secure comms for personnel on operations. The UK’s Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) says it has completed field trials it funded involving downloads of data from space with a “deployable” optical ground station from UK firm Archangel Lightworks. “Deployable” here means that the unit in question - the TERRA-M - is small and light enough to be transported by a ground vehicle or aircraft to where it is needed, and it can be sited on the roof of a building. According to Dstl, “many gigabits” of data were downloaded from a satellite in low Earth orbit (LEO) during a single 90-second satellite pass. The demonstration provides a way for faster and more secure communications for the UK’s armed forces, it said. We asked for confirmation that this means the TERRA-M will be acquired for use by the British military, and when it is expected to come into service.…