MUOS-4, manufactured by Lockheed Martin in its Sunnyvale, California, facility, was encapsulated in its protective launch vehicle at Astrotech Space Operations in Florida on August 10. It remains at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in anticipation of its launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.
Once in place, MUOS-4 will complete near-global coverage for the Navy's new military smartphone-like network, seamlessly connecting up to 55,000 currently fielded radio terminals following a firmware upgrade. The network establishes capabilities beyond line-of-sight around the globe and into the Global Information Grid; it will also support the legacy ultra-high frequency communications satellite system.
"For our mobile forces, that means for the first time they will be able to have secure, high-fidelity voice conversations, networked team calls and data exchange, including video, with anyone around the world connected with a MUOS terminal," said Iris Bombelyn, vice president of Narrowband Communications at Lockheed Martin, in a news release.
MUOS-5, an on-orbit Wideband Code Division Multiple Access spare with additional legacy system capability, is expected to launch in 2016.
