Raytheon to provide next-gen Navy shipboard SATCOM

Military communications experts at Raytheon Co. will provide the U.S. Navy with next-generation shipboard satellite communications (SATCOM) terminals under terms of a $102.9 million contract. Officials of the Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command (SPAWAR) in San Diego are asking the Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems segment in Marlborough, Mass., to provide Navy Multiband Terminals (NMTs), which ultimately are expected to be installed on about 300 Navy ships, submarines, and shore stations. This contract, announced on 29 Dec., has options that eventually increase its value to $466.6 million, Navy officials say. The NMT is a multiband-capable SATCOM terminal that provides protected and wideband communications. It supports extremely high frequency (EHF) communications; advanced EHF low-, medium-, and extended-data-rate communications; super high frequency (SHF) communications; military Ka-band transmit and receive communications; and receive-only Global Broadcast Service communications.