Gilat Arm Wins Honeywell Contract - Analyst Blog

Honeywell International Inc. (HON) recently awarded a contract to Wavestream – a wholly-owned subsidiary of Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd. (GILT) – for the manufacture and supply of Ka-band transceivers for in-flight connectivity. As per the contract, Wavestream will provide Ka-band transceivers for airborne antenna systems to enhance in-flight connectivity to the Inmarsat Global Xpress (GX) network.

Honeywell currently has business relationships with Inmarsat and has been developing and distributing on-board hardware to enable users to connect to its aviation network with a high speed Ka-band system. The Ka-band product family provides high output power, greater efficiency and lighter weight product packages suitable for mobile and flyaway antenna systems, thereby supporting critical defense operations. Honeywell is already deploying in-flight connectivity services to business, commercial and aviation customers across the globe.

Being an established vendor in the aviation market, Wavestream's Ka-band products have been successfully used in defense satellite systems, with over 5,000 deployed around the world. This agreement between Wavestream and Honeywell is expected to provide superior connectivity to passengers and is likely to generate additional revenues from the Global Xpress Aviation network.

Earlier, in the fourth quarter 2012, Honeywell's Aerospace segment sales climbed 4% year over year to $3.0 billion, led by increased sales in commercial end markets. This increase was partially offset by Defense and Space sales.

Honeywell is a global diversified technology and manufacturing company with a wide range of aerospace products and services, control, sensing and security technologies for buildings, homes and industry, turbochargers, automotive products, specialty chemicals, electronic and advanced materials, process technology for refining and petrochemicals and energy efficient products and solutions for homes, business and transportation.

The company faces intense competition from industry bigwigs, which include formidable names such as Carlisle Companies Incorporated (CSL) and Federal Signal Corp (FSS). Honeywell currently has a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).