EHF Cross-Link Added Back to T-Sat

摘要

The prime contract for the U.S. Air Force's Transformational Satellite (T-Sat) Communications system is still scheduled for award late this year, but the service is now leaning toward inclusion of a legacy payload that will add considerable weight to the initial spacecraft. According to Air Force and industry officials, the initial T-Sat satellites now are likely to include a radio-frequency payload that will enable them to communicate direcdy with their predecessors, the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF) satellites. The Air Force has gone back and forth on the Advanced EHF cross-link requirement, dropping it from the program in 2006, only to add it back within the last month.