Space Force squadron gets new advanced terminal for secure communications
By Nathan Strout
Jul 14, 2020
The U.S. Space Force squadron charged with operating the military’s most secure communications satellites has received a new advanced terminal that has been in development for years.
The new Family of Advanced Beyond-Line-of-Sight Terminal (FAB-T) was installed in late June at Schriever Air Force Base, Colorado, where the 4th Space Operations Squadron will use it to control protected military communications satellites.
“The terminals we were using before couldn’t control some of the more advanced functions on our systems,” Staff Sgt. Edgar Diamond, an officer within the 4th SOPS, said in a press release. “Our old system was not user friendly in the least. If you clicked the wrong thing it would log you off the system. It was a pain and couldn’t be maintained by Airmen. The FAB-T is more efficient and is going to be entirely Airman maintained.”
FAB-T will be used for satellite telemetry, tracking and commanding the Advanced Extremely High Frequency constellation, which replaces the MILSTAR constellation in providing protected, anti-jamming communication for high-priority military assets and missions. AEHF satellites and FAB-T terminals are designed to provide survivable, strategic nuclear and non-nuclear command and control, among other things. Just one AEHF satellite has three times the capacity of the entire MILSTAR constellation.
Built by Raytheon, the FAB-T program is significantly behind its initial schedule due in part to software deficiencies. A 2019 Government Accountability Office report warned that as “FAB-T delays mount, the first launched AEHF satellite might near the end of its projected 14-year operational lifespan by the time FAB-T is available.” The first AEHF satellite launched in 2010. The sixth and final AEHF satellite was launched in March.
Other parts of the system are still in development, such as the Forced Element Terminals that will extend these communication capabilities to the B-52 and RC-135. Raytheon was awarded a $442 million contract in January to build those terminals. Work on that contract is expected to be completed in August 2023.
https://www.c4isrnet.com/battlefield-tech/space/2020/07/14/space-force-squadron-gets-new-advanced-terminal-for-secure-communications/
Old but interdasting