A joint U.S. Air Force/Lockheed Martin team has successfully transitioned the Milstar satellite constellation ground control system to the new Advanced Extremely High Frequency (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 scheduled for August 2010.

This critical system transition required a high performance integrated team spanning many government and contractor organizations. The Lockheed Martin team led the planning and testing of the transition and provided critical technical support throughout the transition execution and subsequent weeks of operation.

The AEHF system is the successor to the five-satellite Milstar constellation and will provide significantly improved global, highly secure, protected, survivable communications for all warfighters serving U.S. national security. Developed and delivered by Lockheed Martin, the new AEHF MCS consolidates Milstar and AEHF satellite control and communication resource planning into a single, modernized Mission Control Segment. The AEHF MCS provides enhanced capabilities through a distributed architecture that provides flexibility to deployed warfighters 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. "Milstar continues to deliver critical secure, real-time connectivity to the warfighter and we look forward to providing new communications capabilities with the launch of the first AEHF satellite."

The AEHF team is led by the U.S. Air Force Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing at the Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company, Sunnyvale, Calif. is the AEHF prime contractor and system manager. The MCS is provided by Lockheed Martin Information Services & Global Solutions Defense division.

Headquartered in Bethesda, Md., Lockheed Martin is a global security company that employs about 136,000 people worldwide and is principally engaged in the research, design, development, manufacture, integration and sustainment of advanced technology systems, products and services. The Corporation reported 2009 sales of $45.2 billion.

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SOURCE: Lockheed Martin