Early Northrop Grumman Bird Gets into Lockheed Martin’s AEHF Work

The MILSATCOM Systems Wing has informed all that the payload module of the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite (AEHF) military communications satellite was successfully delivered three weeks ahead of schedule from Northrop Grumman’s facilities in Redondo Beach, California, to the AEHF prime contractor Lockheed Martin facilities, located in Sunnyvale, California. The Lockheed Martin Space Systems team will start the integration process for the payload module with the satellite bus and other space vehicle components, followed by environmental and acceptance testing of the fully integrated space vehicle. The AEHF system is a joint service satellite communications system that provides global, secure, protected and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. Once on orbit, the AEHF satellite system will consist of three satellites in geosynchronous earth orbit providing 10x the capacity of the 1990s-era Milstar satellites. “An outstanding effort has been made by the team to successfully deliver this critical payload ahead of schedule,” said Colonel William J. Harding, Commander, Protected Satellite Communications Group, MILSATCOM Systems Wing. “This payload is particularly important as it is the first to be equipped with the system’s highest Extended Data Rate (XDR) capability which provides 10 times improvement in the system’s capacity. Also, the launch and successful operation of this second satellite will enable us to achieve the crucial Initial Operational Capability (IOC) milestone which is based on a two satellite capability.”—Los Angeles Air Force Base, El Segundo, California