Shipboard communications experts at the Raytheon Co. will provide U.S. and allied naval forces with secure satellite communications (SATCOM) capability under terms of a $16.7 million order announced last week.
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 build Navy Multiband Terminal (NMT) systems and spare parts.
The NMT is a next-generation SATCOM system for the U.S. and allied navies that provides seamless assured connectivity between a ship’s or submarine’s computer network and the Global Information Grid.
It is a multiband secure SATCOM terminal that provides protected and wideband communications. It supports extremely high frequency (EHF); advanced EHF low data rate; medium data rate; extended data rate; super high frequency (SHF), Military Ka-band transmit and receive communications; and Global Broadcast Service receive-only communications.
The NMT is to be installed on about 300 U.S. Navy ships, submarines, and shore stations, replacing several existing SATCOM systems developed and maintained by Raytheon since the mid-1980s.
The new system will provide naval commanders and warfighters with data throughput capacity and protection against enemy intercepts, Raytheon officials say.
To date, Raytheon has achieved protected two-way networked SATCOM for shipboard computer networks using low-, medium-, and extended-data-rate waveforms under the extremes of shipboard motion.
On this order Raytheon will do the work in Largo, Fla.; and South Deerfield, Stow, and Marlborough, Mass., and should be finished by February 2020. For more information contact Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems online at www.raytheon.com, or SPAWAR at www.public.navy.mil/spawar/Pages/default.aspx.