Global Invacom launches new range of SATCOM antennas built for rapid deployment

The Global Invacom Group has announced new rapidly deployable versions of its XY antenna that was released in August 2025. The new antennas are designed to provide differing bandwidths and capabilities to deployed forces.

By Sam Cranny-Evans, editor of Calibre Defence. Published on February 25, 2026. 

The Global Invacom Group has expanded its family of XY antennas with four new sizes designed for rapid deployment. “This new XY range has been engineered to remove complexity, enabling reliable connectivity within minutes, without specialist training,” Bob Potter, the CTO said in the February 24 press release.

The four SATCOM antenna sizes are: 

• 0.98 metres
• 1.2 metres
• 1.8 metres
• 2.4 metres. 

This means that they are available in very small, tactical configurations, as well as larger designs suited to HQs. They are built to be brought into action, which includes assembly and calibration, in under 15 minutes.

The XY range has a multi-orbit capability, allowing it to connect with satellites in Geostationary Earth Orbit, Low Earth Orbit, Medium Earth Orbit, and High Earth Orbit. It is also designed to operate across both the high-frequency Ka- and Ku-bands and can be configured with either outdoor or indoor control systems. 

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To facilitate satellite tracking and connection, the new antennas include an antenna control unit that allows for a “one button auto-acquire” of an orbiting satellite. This is coupled with closed-loop signal optimisation and programmed tracking. The goal is to enable non-specialist personnel to use the systems, the press release states. 

Why does antenna size impact SATCOM performance? 

The primary differences provided by an increase in antenna size are found in four characteristics: 

• • Antenna gain:  Gain measures an antenna’s ability to direct input power into a specific direction. Gain is proportional to the size of an antenna, so the bigger an antenna, the more power it can receive. This means that bigger antennas will provide a clearer signal than a smaller one. 
  • Beam width: Beam width is a measure of the focus of the signals that the antenna sends. A narrow beam width is very focused and picks up less noise as it transmits. However, it is harder to get a narrow beam onto a satellite, and requires better tracking and stabilisation. 
  • Gain-to-noise temperature: Signals from space tend to be very weak. So, picking them up out of the atmosphere against all other signatures including the antenna’s own noise can be difficult. In a nutshell, everything with a temperature above absolute zero emits a slight electromagnetic hiss that the antenna can pick up. A bigger antenna will pick up less hiss because its energy is more focused. This all happens against the background hiss of the antenna’s own electronics (noise temperature). A small antenna with big sidelobes might pick up a lot of the background hiss emitted by the earth, which then combines with the antenna’s own hiss. That hiss is measured in Kelvins.
  • Equivalent Isotropically Radiated Power (EIRP): EIRP is the total power that would have to be radiated by an isotropic antenna to give the same signal strength as the actual antenna in the direction of its maximum gain. An isotropic antenna emits in all directions, rather than a focused beam. Because gain increases with antenna size, a larger antenna achieves a higher EIRP without a massive power-hungry transmitter.

In a nutshell, the Global Invacom XY antennas provide differing capabilities across these aspects. The largest antenna at 2.4 metres in diameter would likely provide very high bandwidth and clear communications. The smallest, in contrast, might offer lower bandwidth and link stability, but is more portable and therefore tactical.  

Calibre comment: The role of SATCOMs in multi-domain operations

SATCOMs are expected to play a key role in most concepts of multi-domain operations. This is partly a result of physics: Few radios can carry the kinds of data that most forces would need over long distances. And partly a result of under-investment in radio infrastructure. So, SATCOM will be used to carry a lot of data, and it is likely an ever growing amount of it will be tactical, rather than the strategic uses SATCOM was traditionally preserved for. 

If you would like to learn more about SATCOM, check out this interview with Helen Weedon of the Satcoms Innovation Group: Calibre Interview: Helen Weedon, Satcoms Innovation Group 

The lead image shows two different versions of the XY antenna. Credit: Global Invacom Group.