The fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) protected communication satellite, built by Lockheed Martin for the U.S. Air Force, was successfully launched at 12:15 a.m. from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 551 rocket. Lockheed Martin confirmed signal acquisition at 3:47 a.m. ET.

The AEHF system provides global, survivable, highly secure and protected communications for strategic command and tactical warfighters operating on ground, sea and air platforms. The satellite will now move into a testing phase prior to hand over to the Air Force. With four satellites in orbit, the AEHF constellation completes a geostationary ring and will be able to deliver global coverage.

"It's good to return with our mission partners to see the culmination of expertise, skill and partnership that we have worked diligently toward to make this AEHF launch a success," said Mike Cacheiro, vice president of Protected Communication Systems at Lockheed Martin.

"This is a substantial milestone for AEHF, and as we look ahead, we continue to improve and upgrade this mission to deliver these vital communications capabilities to the Air Force."

AEHF also serves international partners including Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

Lockheed Martin is on contract with the Air Force to deliver the fifth and sixth satellites and upgraded the Mission Planning ground system. Lockheed Martin contributed payload system engineering, mission control ground software, solar arrays and the LM A2100 spacecraft bus, which is a dependable and low-risk platform for commercial, civil and military satellites. All AEHF satellites are assembled at the company's Sunnyvale, Calif. facility.

One AEHF satellite provides greater total capacity than the entire legacy five-satellite Milstar constellation. Individual data rates increase five-fold, permitting transmission of tactical military communications, such as real-time video, battlefield maps and targeting data. In addition, AEHF affords national leaders anti-jam, always-on connectivity during all levels of conflict.

The AEHF team includes the U.S. Air Force Military Satellite Communications Systems Directorate at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, Calif., is the AEHF prime contractor, space and ground segments provider as well as system integrator, with Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, Redondo Beach, Calif., as the payload provider.

Related Links
Advanced Extremely High Frequency at Lockheed Martin
Read the latest in Military Space Communications Technology at SpaceWar.com

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

ESA selects Satconsult to design new approach to scheduling secure satcom resources
Toulouse, France (SPX) Oct 12, 2018
SATConsult, a leading satellite engineering consultancy and member of Euroconsult Group, has been selected by ESA to lead a consortium, composed of RHEA Group, Airbus and Space Hellas, to help develop a secure, independent, and centralized digital platform for Pooling and Sharing (P and S) satellite communication resources. ESA has identified an increasing demand for secure satellite communications worldwide and a need for reliable and secured communications to support a variety of domains such as ... read more