Lockheed Delivers 5th Navy MUOS Satellite Ahead of May Launch

Lockheed Martin has delivered the fifth military communications satellite for the U.S. Navy to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on March 3 to prepare it for the scheduled May launch.

The company said Wednesday the Mobile User Objective System-5 will be the third MUOS spacecraft to launch in a span of 16 months and the final satellite in the Navy’s baseline constellation.

As an on-orbit spare of the Navy’s communications system, MUOS-5 works to provide U.S. and allied mobile forces an Internet Protocol-based system and support network availability, Lockheed said.

The network also seeks to allow users to connect to the global information grid and provide 16 times the transmission throughput of the ultra high frequency satellite system that MUOS will support and eventually replace, the company added.

“As MUOS-5’s launch approaches, MUOS-4 is preparing to begin operations on-station,” said Mark Woempner, Lockheed program director for the narrowband communications mission area.

Woempner added the MUOS system aims to give mobile forces communications access in previously unreachable regions.

Lockheed’s Astrotech Space Operations subsidiary will perform pre-launch processing on MUOS-5.