TESAT GOVERNMENT PARTNERS WITH FRONTGRADE TECHNOLOGIES

Merritt Island, Florida, 11 December 2025. TESAT Government, an affiliate of Tesat-Spacecom GmbH & Co. KG (TESAT), announced today they had partnered with Frontgrade Technologies (Frontgrade) to produce key elements of their U.S. Assured Optical Communication Terminals (OCTs) for the U.S. security-restricted market.

U.S. Assured OCTs are adapted from OCTs designed, built and tested by TESAT in Germany. Complete TESAT OCTs are shipped to TESAT Government’s facility in Merritt Island, FL and are retrofitted with circuit cards produced and tested by Frontgrade. The retrofitted cards combine TESAT’s original designs with parts sourced by Frontgrade’s U.S. supply chain. TESAT Government reintegrates and tests the complete U.S. Assured OCT before shipping it to customers. 

Frontgrade Technologies will provide critical circuit card assemblies for the U.S. Assured OCTs, drawing on its decades of flight-proven experience in radiation-assured, high-reliability electronics manufacturing. The circuit card assemblies produced at Frontgrade’s Colorado Springs facilities will integrate seamlessly with TESAT’s optical communication architecture, ensuring trusted performance for U.S. government and defense missions.

“This partnership underscores the importance of trusted collaboration in advancing secure, high-bandwidth space communications,” said David Meyouhas, General Manager of Frontgrade's Microelectronics Strategic Business Unit.

“Frontgrade Technologies is an important part of making our U.S. Assured OCTs,” said TESAT Government’s Managing Director, Justin Luczyk. “TESAT Government’s U.S. Assured OCTs bring TESAT’s world class products to the broadest possible range of U.S. Government programs.”

Frontgrade has already completed initial process development and is now working with TESAT Government and TESAT to build, test and qualify flight level circuit card assemblies. The team is scheduled to complete qualification testing in Q1 2026.

ABOUT TESAT GOV

Grown from the heritage of TESAT, the leading manufacturer for satellite equipment and provider of in-orbit-verified Optical Communications Terminals (OCTs) for laser data transmission, TESAT Government, based in Merritt Island, Florida, specializes in combining TESAT’s proven technologies with U.S. security-protected content to produce American-made OCT for the U.S. Government market.

ABOUT Tesat

TESAT is a leading manufacturer of satellite equipment. The product range spans the smallest space-specific components to modules, entire assemblies or payloads for telecommunication, navigation, earth observation and science missions. In Backnang, Germany, more than 1,100 employees develop, assemble and test systems and equipment for satellite communications. TESAT is the technology leader for in-orbit-verified optical communication terminals for data transmission via laser and has a focus on commercial and institutional space programs. As the leading manufacturer in its field, the company helps to sustainably connect the world and make it a better place to live for everyone. 

Learn more about TESAT at www.tesat.de.

ABOUT FRONTGRADE

Frontgrade Technologies is a multi-domain aerospace and defense hardware products company that engineers and manufactures certainty where failure isn’t an option. With more than 40 years of heritage in high-reliability electronics, we deliver mission-critical hardware that performs in the hardest, harshest, and highest-stakes environments. From deep space to missile defense, our products enable global awareness, precision engagement, and resilient protection across space, air, land, and maritime domains.

Learn more about Frontgrade at Frontgrade.com 

MEDIA CONTACTS

TESAT Government 
1525 Wilson Blvd, Suite 500 
Arlington, VA 22209 
USA 

Michael Dowd 
Business Development Director 
+1-703-209-4092
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Tesat-Spacecom GmbH & Co. KG
Gerberstraße 49
D-71522 Backnang

Victoria-Louisa Kirstein
Head of Communications & Marketing
+49 7191 930 - 1039
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