Pictured are U.S. Air Force KC-135 pilots assigned to the 97th Air Refueling Squadron during Exercise Royal Flush at Fairchild AFB, Wash. on April 30. During the Air Mobility Command exercise, Fairchild launched 44 KC-135 sorties in 72-hours to represent "a shift from day-to-day aerial refueling missions and planned deployments to a time when forces could be required to launch all available assets and personnel within days’ notice," the Air Force said (U.S. Air Force Photo)
By Frank Wolfe |
1 year ago |
05/30/2024
highlights

The U.S. Air Force is to buy Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) A-kits to outfit 315 KC-135 Stratotanker refueling aircraft.

Fielded in 2019, the five Lockheed Martin [LMT]-built MUOS geosynchronous satellites provide military forces ultra high frequency voice and data communications.

General Dynamics [GD] is the ground segment provider.

Air Force Materiel Command’s (AFMC)  KC-135 MUOS modification program is to replace Collins Aerospace [RTX] ARC-210 Generation 3 radios with ARC-210 Generation 6s “and add the capabilities of MUOS, Integrated Waveform, and Second Generation Anti-Jam Tactical Ultra-High Frequency Radio (SATURN) on 315 KC-135 aircraft,” AFMC said in a May 29 business notice. In February, Lockheed Martin said that the U.S. Space Force’s Space Systems Command (SSC) had awarded the company a $66 million contract for early design work on MUOS service life extension (Defense Daily, Feb. 7).

MUOS has four active satellites and one on-orbit spare.

The SSC service life extension for MUOS would add two MUOS satellites to the fleet to support older UHF channels.

Phase 1 of the one-year MUOS service life extension contract involves risk reduction/early design and carries a possible six-month extension.

Phase 2 is a separate competition for final design, production, spacecraft testing, and delivery to Space Force for launch by 2030.