ThinKom Leverages VICTS Technology to Provide Directed Energy Weapons & Satcom Ground Stations
January 20, 2026
Below are excerpts from Magnetics Magazine's January 20th article about ThinKom's adaptation of VICTS technology for ground station and directed energy applications.
The “Variable Inclination Continuous Transverse Stub” phased array antennas use magnetic induction to drive the stub discs within the antenna that rotate to steer the beams. While magnetic induction is the core principle for rotating the internal passive layers or platters to control the phase distribution and steer the antenna beam, systems from Thinkom also employ high-torque permanent magnet brushless DC motors to enable speedy satellite switching.
“ThinKom prides itself in providing the best performing antenna solutions regardless of the market,” explained Bill Milroy, CTO and co-founder at ThinKom, which is based in Hawthorne, California. “Building on our long heritage of ground and airborne satcom systems, we realized that our antennas are uniquely suited for handling extremely high power levels and are investing heavily to develop HPM systems for the warfighter.”
VICTS phased array antennas excel over other phased array solutions—such as electronically scanned arrays—in many ways, says the company. Their technology enables significantly higher peak power handling, which translates into more power on target and longer ranges. In addition, they consume less prime power, which enables integrations on constrained platforms.
In another product area, ThinKom is working with KSAT...located in Tromso, Norway, to develop a commercially viable receive-only ground station...The core antenna module uses an active phased array design based on its Ultra technology with no beam-walk over the full frequency range. Ultra builds on the company’s VICTS technology, with additional key features.
ThinKom’s Ultra array antennas use a mechanical, steerable phased array architecture along with passive RF layers and digital beamforming rather than magnetic manipulation for beam direction. The beam is steered using high-torque permanent-magnet brushless DC motors, which manipulate the physical orientation of the array elements within the housing, rather than using magnetic fields to electronically steer the beam.
Read the full article here.
About ThinKom
No items found.
Share this post
![Why [Some] Inflight Connectivity Antennas are Playing Catch-Up](https://cdn.prod.website-files.com/65a15c46b894137fbdeef78e/65cd7fb7dc412416d359bec9_aviation-week-network-.png)
