Lockheed Martin's fifth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS-5) satellite is now providing secure, beyond-line-of-sight communications to the US military legacy ultra-high frequency (UHF) radios, the company announced on 24 April.
Working with the US Strategic Command, the US Navy configured one of MUOS-5's two communications payloads to provide additional support for its legacy UHF satellite communications mission. Narrowband UHF communications is used by every combatant command in aircraft, ships, submarines, ground vehicles, as well as by troops in the field and special operations.
Legacy narrowband UHF communications will eventually transition to next-generation Wideband Code Division Multiple Access(WCDMA) capabilities provided by MUOS. To facilitate that transition, MUOS was intentionally designed with two communications payloads, with each satellite able to simultaneously support both new WCDMA waveform capabilities and legacy UHF satellite communications.
MUOS-5 is the latest addition to a network of satellites and relay ground stations that is upgrading communications for mobile forces. Users with new MUOS terminals will be able to connect beyond line-of-sight and into the global information grid, as well as into the defence switched network. MUOS provides simultaneous, crystal-clear voice, video and mission data over a secure high-speed Internet Protocol-based system.
Over 55,000 currently fielded radio terminals can be upgraded to be MUOS-compatible via a software upgrade.
Once fully operational, MUOS will provide users with over ten times the communications capacity of the legacy system it will replace.
The airborne three-domain, the two ground-based and the ¼ ATR OpenVPX-based cross-domain systems were engineered to provide real-time security across multi-domain operations.
DARPA’s Mission-Integrated Network Control (MINC) programme was set up to develop an autonomous tactical network and enable critical data flow in contested environments.
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Defence-secure mixed reality headsets can save hours, or even weeks, of travel time to fix defunct equipment or get subject experts effectively “on-site” where they are needed.
The Joint Counter Radio-Controlled Improvised Explosive Device Electronic Warfare (JCREW) counter-improvised explosive device (C-IED) and Drone Restricted Access Using Known Electromagnetic Warfare (DRAKE) counter-UAS (CUAS) systems are mounted and dismounted RF jammers.
Adarga’s Vantage information analysis tool is in service with the UK MoD and individual UK forces. It builds on the company’s Knowledge Platform which processes, organises and analyses open source material, as well as information held by the user’s military, security and intelligence services.
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