Longer than expected testing of an Atlas V rocket component will delay launch of the first Advanced Extremely High Frequency military communications satellite from July 30 to August 10, announced the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center on July 14.

AEHF prime contractor Lockheed Martin delivered the first of six planned radiation-hardened AEHF satellites to the Air Force on May 25.

AEHF geosynchronous orbit satellites will supplant a five-orbiter communications constellation known as Milstar; just one AEHF satellite will provide greater bandwidth than the entire Milstar system, according to Lockheed Martin.

Launch of the first satellite comes after the $12.4 billion AEHF program went through technical problems and official vacillations over the ultimate size of the constellation. At one point, expectations for the now-canceled Transformational Satellite effort whittled down the number of AEHF satellites to three. The sixth AEHF satellite should be in orbit by 2020, according to the Government Accountability Office.

As attention turns way from AEHF's apparently resolved problems, however, new notice has recently focused on a related ground control system meant to receive AEHF signals. The program, known as FAB-T (which officially stands for Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals) is primed by Boeing and has "experienced numerous problems," states an October 2009 GAO report. Rollout of FAB-T terminals has been delayed by at least two years; the GAO report estimated that only 2 percent of FAB-T terminals will be online by 2011, when AEHF gains initial operating capability.

How secure Boeing's position is, as the FAB-T prime contractor is unknown; in a June 4 request for information, the Air Force gauged potential alternative sources of the terminals. Responses to the RFI were due by June 21.

For more:
- read the Lockheed Martin May 25 press release on delivery of the first AEHF satellite
- download the October 2009 GAO report, "Challenges in Aligning Space System Components," GAO-10-55 (.pdf)
- download the GAO's March 2010 annual assessment of selected weapon programs (AEHF and FAB-T include), GAO-10-388SP (.pdf)
- go to the Air Force FBO RFI webpage
- surf Boeing's FAB-T webpage