ViaSat, Carlsbad, Calif., received an $18.3 million contract from the U.S. Air Force for the continued development of the Joint Communication Simulator (JCS). This award extends the JCS capabilities at three locations to include Link-16, new operating modes and other new CNI signals. The award covers task orders for JCS feature development in support of Air Force and Navy avionics system testing through 2013. “This contract is very important to the continued development of new communication, navigation, and identification system test capability for our Department of Defense customers and further extends our lead in the functional range of our systems,” said Greg Norton, program manager, ViaSat Simulation Systems Group.