Fourth Satellite Triggers Nunn- McCurdy Review of AEHF Program

摘要

The late addition of a fourth satellite to the U.S. Air Force's Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) constellation is responsible for 80 percent of the program's cost growth and has triggered a mandatory assessment of alternative options, Gary Pay-ton, the deputy undersecretary of the Air Force for space programs said Sept. 10. In the 2008 defense authorization bill, Congress directed the Air Force to buy an additional AEHF protected military communications satellite from prime contractor Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Sunnyvale, Calif., out of growing concerns about the readiness of the follow-on program, the Transformational Satellite communications system.