The Coast Guard selected KVH Industries Inc. to supply the next-generation satellite communications solution for its small cutter fleet.

KVH's TracPhone V7 satellite communication system and the mini-VSAT broadband service were chosen.

The Coast Guard Telecommunications and Information Systems Command will deploy the system during a three- to five-year period aboard as many as 216 small cutters representing 16 cutter classes. The 10-year contract, encompassing shipboard hardware, airtime services and support, is valued at about $42 million.

"In the face of rapidly expanding data communications requirements, including real-time use of biometric technology, homeland security efforts and extended worldwide operations, the U.S. Coast Guard needed a global communication solution robust enough to support these demands and rugged enough for even the most demanding maritime conditions," KVH CEO Martin Kits van Heyningen said in a statement.