Article Posted on : - Nov 19, 2014

MUOS secure communications satellite. Photo: Lockheed Martin.

SUNNYVALE (BNS): The US Navy and Lockheed Martin have delivered the third Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) spacecraft to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, where it will be prepared for a January 2015 liftoff aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

MUOS operates like a smart phone cell tower in the sky, vastly improving current secure mobile satellite communications for warfighters on the move.

For the first time, MUOS Wideband Code Division Multiple Access technology users will have beyond-line-of-sight capability to transmit and receive voice and data using an Internet Protocol-based system.

"With the launch of the third satellite in the constellation, to be followed later in 2015 by the fourth, MUOS will be in place to provide pole-to-pole and global, secure communications for the warfighter," said Iris Bombelyn, vice president of Narrowband Communications at Lockheed Martin, as per the company news release.

MUOS-2 was launched and handed over to the Navy for operations in 2013. MUOS-1 was launched and became operational in 2012.