Northrop Grumman [NOC] has delivered the fourth payload of the fourth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) protected military satellite to the AEHF prime contractor Lockheed Martin
[LMT] 4 ½ months early, Northrop Grumman said on Monday.
This fourth payload contained the phased array, nulling, and advanced v-band crosslink antennas. The payload was integrated and tested with the payload module shipped earlier in 2014. The payload module contains the processing, routing, and control hardware and software that performs the satellite’s communications function.
The AEHF industry team is using a new hybrid satellite integration and test approach. This allows Lockheed Martin to begin satellite bus integration while a Northrop Grumman team simultaneously completes the payload integration, Northrop Grumman said.
This method was jointly developed by Northrop Grumman, Lockheed Martin, and the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.
“This hybrid approach is providing an overall reduction in program cost and schedule,” Stuart Linsky, vice president of Communication Programs at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems, said in a statement.
“We fully expect to see these savings on flights 5 and 6 as well.”
Mark Calassa, vice president of Protected Communication Systems at Lockheed Martin Space Systems, added that, “we expected the hybrid approach to give our team more flexibility and efficiency, and it has exceeded our expectations.”
Each Advanced EHF satellite offers a greater total capacity than the entire five-satellite legacy Milstar constellation, Northrop Grumman said.
The AEHF has individual user data rates up to five times greater than on the Milstar system. This allows two-way, jam-resistant transmission of tactical military communications. It includes real-time video, battlefield maps, and targeting data
The AEHF is also set to “provide the survivable, protected, and endurable communications to the National Command Authority including presidential conferencing in all levels of conflict,” the company said.
Northrop Grumman said payload modules were delivered ahead of schedule for the first, second, and third AEHF satellites in 2007, 2008, and 2009, respectively.
The Air Force’s fourth AEHF satellite is scheduled to launch in 2017.