Fifth Lockheed-Built MUOS Satellite Set to Launch Friday; Mark Woempner Comments

Lockheed Martin and the U.S. Navy are scheduled to launch a fifth Mobile User Objective System satellite Friday at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida onboard United Launch Alliance‘s Atlas V rocket.

The launch of MUOS-5 will complete a network of orbiting satellites and relay ground stations designed to provide near-global communications coverage for mobile military forces, Lockheed said Wednesday.

“MUOS is a game-changer for our forces, establishing a global military cellular network through which they can reach out to each other – and exchange mission data – almost anywhere around the world,” said Mark Woempner, director of Lockheed’s narrowband communications systems business.

MUOS terminals help users to gain access to the global information grid and the Defense Switching Network and the MUOS-5 satellite incorporates two payloads to run the Wideband Code Division Multiple Access waveform and the Ultra High Frequency satellite system.

Lockheed built five MUOS satellites at a company facility in Sunnyvale, California and said the fifth MUOS satellite is scheduled to lift off Friday between 10:30 a.m. and 11:14 a.m. Eastern Time.