Manufacturer | Lockheed Martin Northrop Grumman |
---|---|
Country of origin | United States |
Operator | United States Space Force |
Applications | Military communications |
Specifications | |
Bus | A2100M |
Launch mass | 6,168 kg (13,598 lb) |
Regime | Geosynchronous orbit |
Design life | 14 years (planned) |
Production | |
Status | Operational Active |
On order | 0 [1] |
Built | 6 [2] |
Launched | 6 |
Operational | 5 |
Maiden launch | 14 August 2010 (USA-214) |
Last launch | 26 March 2020 (USA-298) |
Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) is a constellation of communications satellites operated by the United States Space Force. They are used to relay secure communications for the United States Armed Forces, the British Armed Forces, the Canadian Armed Forces, the Netherlands Armed Forces and the Australian Defence Force.[3] The system consists of six satellites in geostationary orbits. The final satellite was launched on 26 March 2020. AEHF is backward compatible with, and replaces, the older Milstar system and will operate at 44 GHz uplink (extremely high frequency (EHF) band) and 20 GHz downlink (super high frequency (SHF) band).[4] The AEHF system is a joint service communications system that provides survivable, global, secure, protected, and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets.