Raytheon’s [RTN] Minuteman Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network Program Upgrade (MMPU) satellite terminal system has received a successful Milestone C decision and subsequent production award, according to a company executive.
Brian Gray, Raytheon’s program area director for strategic communications, said Friday in a phone interview that the company’s next step is to make delivery on those terminals, which “should take a year’s time.”
The MMPU satellite terminal system is part of the Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network, which is the communications link between the president and nuclear forces.
The MMPU is the company’s first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) terminal for the Air Force to enter into the production phase. It is also Raytheon’s third AEHF terminal to interoperate with the on-orbit AEHF satellite, joining the Army’s Secure Mobile Anti-Jam Reliable Transportation Terminal (SMART-T) and the Navy’s Multiband Terminal (NMT), according to a company statement.
Both SMART-T and NMT have been through Milestone C with SMART-T at Full Rate Production and NMT at Low-Rate Initial Production, according to Gray.
Gray said being the third AEHF terminal to interoperate with the on-orbit AEHF satellite is significant because Raytheon has been able to succeed where others failed.
“Our peer companies that have been in this space have been unable to demonstrate performance that they could operationally use the satellite for its intended purpose,” he said.
Gray added that the first AEHF satellite went into orbit six months before achieving final position in October.
Raytheon is projected to deliver 67 MMPU AEHF terminals, including spares, to the Air Force, according to a company statement.
AEHF allows for increased data rates compared to EHF. Gray said AEHF’s maximum speed is eight megabits, or one megabyte, per second, and that the earlier EHF system was 1.5 megabits per second.