Members of the 45th Space Wing supported the successful launch of the Navy’s first Mobile User Objective System communications satellite. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on Feb. 24, carrying the narrowband communications satellite into orbit. “The new MUOS constellation will bring a robust ‘communications-on-the-move’ capability to the mobile warfighter,” said Brig. Gen. Anthony Cotton, 45th SW commander, in a release. He added, “The entire government and contractor team worked together flawlessly to make this launch a success.” The Navy plans a constellation of four operational MUOS satellites in geosynchronous orbit plus one on-orbit spare. According to the sea service, the MUOS satellites will provide more than 10 times the communications capacity of the current UHF Follow-On constellation.
While U.S. defense officials have spent much of the past decade warning that China is the nation’s pacing threat and its People’s Liberation Army represents an urgent threat in the Indo-Pacific, several defense researchers are skeptical that the PLA has the human capital, the structural ability, or the political appetite…