The Air Force and the United Launch Alliance successfully launched the last of the Navy’s constellation of five Mobile User Objective System satellites that provide improved on-the-move communications for the joint forces on the land, sea, and in the air. The Lockheed Martin-produced MUOS-5 satellite was launched into orbit aboard an ULA Atlas V launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on June 24, completing the Navy program, according to an Air Force release. The MUOS satellites carry a dual payload, with one component providing an advanced broadband capacity for secure voice, video, and data transmission and the other an expansion of the legacy Ultra High Frequency network. MUOS-5’s UHF payload will be active but the broadband component will serve as a spare in case of a loss of one of the four other satellites.
House lawmakers are moving to keep the Air Force’s E-7 Wedgetail development program alive after the Pentagon announced plans to wind it down in the coming years.