Scott Nicholas
Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin have jointly led an industry team that tested the capacity of a tactical terminal to connect with an Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite managed by the U.S. Air Force.
The over-the-air test aimed to demonstrate if the Low Cost Terminal could operate with the Defense Department‘s protected communications network, Northrop said Wednesday.
LCT is designed to help tactical warfighters communicate when they perform missions in contested environments.
“The ability to send sensitive information over a protected network that is resistant to interruption and anti-jam is critical to ensuring the safety and success of our military troops here at home and allies abroad,” said Iris Bombelyn, vice president of protected communications at Lockheed’s space systems business.
Cyrus Dhalla, VP of Northrop’s communications systems business, said the team developed LCT for military customers who require a technology built to counter jamming and reduce the risk of detection.
The LCT team currently seeks government partners to support final production of the terminal for certification and aims to roll out the product by the end of 2018.
LCT is being developed in airborne, ground communications-on-the-move and rapidly deployable fixed-terminal variants.
