Missiles & Space will team with TRW for this 18-month System Definition Phase contract. The team will define requirements and propose design concepts for a system that will provide global, timely access to critical information for both tactical and strategic military users.

"We appreciate the opportunity to provide our customer with an effective solution to the U.S. military's communications needs for the 21st century," said John Buffin, Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space Advanced EHF program manager.

"Our solution will build on Lockheed Martin's leadership in military satellite communications, while applying our commercial technology to reduce satellite size and cost while significantly boosting throughput and power," said Buffin.

He added, "This system will instantly link battlefield commanders with deployed forces as well as the decision makers in the Pentagon."

The Advanced EHF Program is the follow-on to the current Milstar communication satellite program, in which Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor.

As envisioned by the Pentagon, the Advanced EHF constellation will consist of four crosslinked satellites covering from 65 degrees north to 65 degrees south. It will provide more data throughput capability to the military theater of operations than ever before.

"This win takes advantage of TRW's unmatched experience in developing four generations of digital switching bandwidth-on-demand payloads, including those onboard the two Milstar satellites currently in orbit," said Clayton Kau, TRW Advanced EHF payload program manager.

"The Advanced EHF payload will leverage the latest advances in signal processing technology to lower cost and reduce size and weight," added Kau.

The Advanced EHF system will move data at up to 10 times the rate of the Milstar II communications satellites. The proposed Advanced EHF constellation will merge Milstar II's low data rate and medium data rate modulation modes into one integrated system, extending data rates up to 8.2 Mbps/channel.

There will be more than 50 communications channels and multiple downlinks per satellite, with a throughput of ~500 Mbps per satellite.

The final phase of the program is scheduled to begin in April of 2001 with the first of four satellites to be launched in 2006.

Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space is the prime contractor responsible for end-to-end system definition, system integration, spacecraft development, and development of the satellite system control and communications management ground system. TRW's Space & Electronics Group, Redondo Beach, CA, will provide the advanced digitally-switched communications payload.

MilSpace - SpaceDaily Special Report

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