LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, El Segundo, Calif. – General John E. Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command, declared Initial Operational Capability for the Advanced Extremely High Frequency system on July 28. This significant achievement reflects superb collaboration between numerous organizations, including Headquarters Air Force Space Command, the Space and Missile Systems Center, U.S. Army, U.S. Navy and the developers, Lockheed Martin and Northrup Grumman. Advanced EHF also includes International Partners from the United Kingdom, Canada and the Netherlands.
The AEHF system is a joint service satellite communications system that provides survivable, global, secure, protected, and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. AEHF provides 10 times the throughput and a substantial increase in coverage compared to the 1990s-era Milstar satellites currently in orbit.
“Achieving AEHF IOC is a great accomplish for the team. We’re proud to deliver an unparalleled leap forward in protected communications capability for both our nation’s senior leaders and also our warfighters in the field,” said Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, Space and Missile Systems Center’s commander. With the IOC declaration, the Air Force’s 4th Space Operations Squadron is now operating the AEHF system, supporting warfighters around the world.
The first AEHF spacecraft was launched on Aug. 14, 2010; the AEHF-2 spacecraft was launched on May 4, 2012; and the AEHF-3 spacecraft was launched on Sept. 18, 2013. The Air Force will continue to expand the AEHF constellation to meet the demands of the DoD and the warfighter. AEHF-4, AEHF-5, and AEHF-6 are projected to launch in 2017, 2018, and 2019 respectively.
