MILSATCOM Heritage

Northrop Grumman provided the mission payload for the MILSTAR Communications Network, initially launched in 1994. MILSTAR was a revolution in assured, protected communications — a constellation of advanced satellites featuring the world’s first on-board digital processing. Linked on orbit via crosslinks and to users via mobile ground terminals, MILSTAR represented the first true anti-jam command and control communications network serving U.S. forces worldwide.

MILSTAR satellites have been in continuous operation for 30 years, functioning as "switchboards in space," that allow users to communicate with each other across the world.

The Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) mission payload provides survivable, protected communications for strategic and tactical warfighter missions across most of the world. First launched in 2010 as the successor to MILSTAR, the AEHF constellation enables military and national leaders to control strategic and tactical forces, providing joint, interoperable, assured connectivity for warfighters.

Engineered to survive even the most extreme threats, Northrop Grumman’s on-orbit processing provides the flexibility needed to rapidly establish and reconfigure networks to meet dynamic command and control requirements.

Launched in 2018, the Enhanced Polar System (EPS) mission payload complements the AEHF system, providing continuous MILSATCOM coverage in the north polar region for survivable, protected communications for strategic and tactical warfighter missions to support peacetime, contingency, homeland defense and wartime operations.

In August 2024, the follow-on EPS-R payload launched aboard the historic Arctic Satellite Broadband Mission, an unprecedented partnership between Space Norway and U.S. Space Force.