Military Embedded Systems

U.S. Navy satellite system gets go-ahead for expanded operational use

News

August 03, 2018

Lisa Daigle

Assistant Managing Editor

Military Embedded Systems

U.S. Navy satellite system gets go-ahead for expanded operational use
U.S. Navy photo

WASHINGTON. The U.S. Navy announced that U.S. Strategic Command has approved the next-generation narrowband satellite communication system. The five-satellite on-orbit system is called the Mobile User Objective System (MUOS).

U.S. Navy officials say that the full-suite MUOS payload, known as Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) waveform, adapts commercial cellular technology to allow warfighters to communicate beyond-line-of-sight, more securely and reliably than ever before, with 10 times the capacity compared to the older system's capability.

"MUOS's acceptance for operational use is an important milestone for the Navy, and it's one step closer for significant communications improvements for all our forces," noted Rear Adm. Carl Chebi, who leads the Navy's Program Executive Office (PEO) for Command, Control, Communications, Computers and Intelligence and PEO Space Systems.

The MUOS system is expected to be declared fully operational following final test and evaluation in summer 2019.