International Communications Group (Booth No. 4229) has partnered with Cobham to develop a bundled Iridium and Inmarsat SwiftBroadband satellite communications system called Sora that the companies claim is lighter, smaller and less expensive than a similar competing system made available earlier this year by Aircell and Thrane & Thrane.

Sora will combine an ICG ICS 220A Iridium satcom system with Cobham’s SDU 7320 SwiftBroadband terminal and IGA 5001 intermediate-gain antenna. The two systems will be linked by an ICG NxtMail server that hosts software to switch automatically between the satcom links as needed.

ICG vice president Jeff Saucedo said the system is about 40-percent smaller than the Aircell/Thrane & Thrane product pairing and, weighing in at 39 pounds, is 30 percent lighter as well. Its list price of $164,500 is also about 20 percent lower than the competition, he said. Nearly all Sora components are certified and ready to ship, with the exception of the Cobham antenna, which is awaiting TSO approval.

Sora can be installed in business jets as small as the Gulfstream G150. The system will provide a worldwide Iridium link for satcom voice calls and around 330 kbps of Iridium SwiftBroadband satellite data.