SICRAL (Sistema Italiana de Communicazione Riservente Allarmi), the
first national italian system for satellite military telecommunications, has been
developed by the SITAB consortium made up of Alenia Spazio, a Finmeccanica Company (70%),
Fiat Avio (20%) and Telespazio (10%).
The SICRAL 1 satellite can operate simultaneously on several frequency bands (SHF, EHF and
UHF), a characteristics first in Europe, with the possibility to switch the bands on-board
of the satellite (first in the world). The UHF satellite repeater is the Europe's
most powerful and the only one to operate inter-connected to the SHF/EHF band.
The contract for SICRAL 1B was signed in late 2006.