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News | Feb. 23, 2012

AEHF Flight 2 Successfully Ships to Cape Canaveral

SPACE & MISSILE SYSTEMS CENTER (AFSPC)

LOS ANGELES AIR FORCE BASE, El Segundo, Calif. - The Air Force and Lockheed Martin team successfully delivered the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency Flight communication satellite to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. , where it will be prepared for launch aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V launch vehicle.

AEHF-2 completed its California-to-Florida journey Feb. 13 aboard an Air Force C-5 Galaxy aircraft operated by the 60th Air Mobility Wing from Travis Air Force Base, Calif.

Over the next 75 days, the satellite will undergo final launch preparations, encapsulation and transport to Launch Complex 41 at CCAFS. AEHF-2 is on-track for an April 27 launch.

AEHF is a joint service satellite communications system that will provide survivable, global, secure, protected, and jam-resistant communications for high-priority military ground, sea and air assets. The AEHF system is the follow-on to the Milstar system, augmenting, improving and expanding the Department of Defense's MILSATCOM architecture.

AEHF-2 was procured from Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company by the MILSATCOM Systems Directorate, part of the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center. The MILSATCOM Systems Directorate plans, acquires and sustains space-based global communications in support of the president, secretary of defense and combat forces. The MILSATCOM enterprise consists of satellites, terminals and control stations and provides communications for more than 16,000 air, land and sea platforms.