The U.S. Air Force is searching for companies able to integrate the Raytheon Technologies‘ [RTX] Force Element Terminals (FET) on the B-52 bomber.
The FETs are radiation-hardened satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals that are to permit the B-52 and the RC-135 to transition from the use of signals from the five Military Strategic Tactical Relay (Milstar) satellites to signals from the six advanced extremely high frequency (AEHF) satellites.
On Jan. 16, 2020, Raytheon won a more than $442 million Air Force FET development contract for work through this August in Marlborough, Mass., and Largo, Fla.
“The purpose of the B-52 AEHF Integration program is to replace the AFSATCOM AN/ASC-19 Beyond Line-of-Sight (BLOS) capability due to Milstar Ultra High Frequency (UHF) satellite end of life,” a Feb. 14 request for information (RFI) business notice said.
“To provide this capability, the FET system will be integrated onto the B-52H Weapon System to provide an updated Nuclear Command, Control and Communications (NC3) capability,” per the RFI. “Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC) will utilize the command-and-control communications. AEHF closes the performance gap left by the de-commissioning of Milstar satellites.”
Under the B-52 AEHF Integration program, a company responding to the RFI should demonstrate its capacity “to define, design, and develop the systems and subsystems necessary to integrate and install the AEHF FET provided as GFE [government furnished equipment],” the RFI said. “This includes effort for the Engineering and Manufacturing Development (EMD) phase of the program. EMD phase (Milestone B to Milestone C).”
During EMD, the Air Force would perform FET testing on one bomber as a prelude to modifying the B-52 fleet.
In August 2021, Raytheon also won a Department of the Air Force contract worth up to $960 million for AEHF terminals and support (Defense Daily, Aug. 13, 2021).
The U.S. Space Force operates six Lockheed Martin [LMT] AEHF satellites built to augment the U.S. military’s five Lockheed Martin Milstar satellites conceived during the Reagan administration to provide the president, secretary of defense and military forces with nuclear-survivable satellite communications with a low probability of intercept and detection.
Launched between 2010 and 2020, the AEHF constellation is to relay secure communications for the U.S. military, as well as partner nations including Canada, Australia, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
AEHF is to offer more secure and resilient anti-jam capabilities to supplement Milstar in providing global communications to the U.S. military and government with up to 10 times more capability and five times the data transport rate.
Space Force plans to start moving away from the extended data rate AEHF satellites in the next decade to field a more resilient Evolved Strategic SATCOM (ESS) constellation, but some lawmakers have said that the transition may create gaps in coverage (Defense Daily, Sept. 3, 2021).
Initial ESS satellites may deploy in fiscal 2030 to achieve an initial operational capability in fiscal 2032.