By Marina Malenic
The Air Force expects to launch the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) communications satellite from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Aug. 12 after a brief delay for extra confidence testing on a launch vehicle component.
Prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT] has delivered the first satellite in the AEHF program, SV-1, to Cape Canaveral, where it is undergoing preparations for liftoff aboard an Atlas V launch vehicle.
The AEHF system is designed to provide the Pentagon and other government officials with protected, high capacity communications. It is the successor to the five-satellite Milstar constellation. According to Col. William Harding, the Milsatcom wing vice commander at the Air Force’s Space and Missile Center at Los Angeles AFB, a single AEHF satellite can provide greater total capacity than the entire Milstar constellation currently on orbit.
“AEHF will provide an order of magnitude greater capability than the legacy system,” Harding told reporters during a conference call yesterday.
Harding noted that Canada, Netherlands and the United Kingdom have participated in the development effort and will receive new capability once SV-1 is online. He declined to provide specific details on each country’s contribution to the effort but said that bilateral agreements with each nation provided for the requirements of each nation. He said none of the three would be “huge majority users.”
Col. Gary Henry, the mission manager, told reporters that next week’s launch “marks a new era in protected satcom.” He said military commanders can soon look forward to the “increased data rates and improved security” provided by AEHF.
The second AEHF spacecraft, SV-2, has completed a test that verified all spacecraft interfaces, demonstrated full functionality and evaluated satellite performance and is now preparing for testing to ensure the spacecraft is ready for flight.
The third satellite, SV-3, has completed acoustic testing. SV-2 and SV-3 are on track for launch readiness in 2011, according to the Air Force and Lockheed Martin.
Meanwhile, Lockheed Martin announced that, along with Air Force engineers, the company has successfully transitioned the Milstar satellite constellation ground control system to the new AEHF Mission Control Segment (MCS). The AEHF MCS is now performing day-to-day operations of the Milstar satellite constellation and is poised to support deployment of the AEHF satellite constellation with first launch.
The AEHF MCS provides a distributed architecture that allows U.S. military officials around the world to directly plan and control satellite payload resources.
“This is a key milestone that will assure continuous and vital communications for the warfighter from the legacy system to the new, higher capability AEHF satellite system,” said Mike Davis, Lockheed Martin’s AEHF vice president.
Northrop Grumman [NOC] is the payload provider for AEHF. Lockheed Martin is under contract to provide three satellites and the Mission Control Segment. The program has begun advanced procurement of long-lead components for a fourth AEHF satellite.
The Air Force did not provide current cost figures for the program by press time.