Lockheed Martin and the US Navy's Communications Satellite Program Office have handed over full operational control of the fifth Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite to the Naval Satellite Operations Center (NAVSOC), Lockheed announced on 16 November.

The milestone follows the successful completion of the MUOS-5 satellite's on-orbit testing and delivery of all operational products needed to fly the satellite.

The company said the handover of this satellite to NAVSOC clears the final hurdle allowing Army Forces Strategic Command to provide the payload's final configurations to support the navy's legacy UHF satellite communications mission.

Legacy narrowband UHF communications are to be eventually transitioned to next generation Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) capabilities. To facilitate that transition, all five on-orbit MUOS satellites were designed with two communications payloads to support both legacy UHF and WCDMA.

The company said the new MUOS capabilities will revolutionise communications for mobile forces with simultaneous, crystal-clear voice, video and mission data over a secure high-speed Internet Protocol-based system. Users with new MUOS terminals will be able to connect beyond line-of-sight worldwide and into the global information grid and the defense switched network, as part of the navy's cellular network.

Once fully operational, the MUOS network of five on-orbit satellites and four relay ground stations will provide over ten times the communications capacity of the legacy UHF satellite system. MUOS' satellite already provides near-global coverage, including communications into polar regions.