U.S. armed services fields Raytheon AEHF SMART-T satellite communications terminal upgrades to tactical units

MARLBOROUGH, Mass., 21 Sept. 2011. U.S. armed services personnel have fielded the first of an anticipated 364 Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) Secure Mobile Anti-jam Reliable Tactical Terminal (SMART-T) satellite communications system from Raytheon Company (NYSE:RTN). Nineteen systems will be fielded in Canada, and another seven in the Netherlands through 2015. The Raytheon AEHF SMART-T upgrades the data rate of existing SMART-T systems by a factor of four, taking advantage of Raytheon's eXtended Data Rate (XDR) waveform hardware and software modifications. The new XDR waveform is designed to increase communications bandwidth and speed, enabling such tactical military communications as real-time video, battlefield mapping, and targeting data.

"Raytheon's SMART-T delivers the next generation of protected communications that's compatible with both EHF and AEHF satellites," explains Scott Whatmough, vice president of Raytheon Network Centric Systems' Integrated Communications Systems. "AEHF SMART-T provides the end user with more mission flexibility and increased capacity to transmit voice, data, and video, providing increased situational awareness."