Ultra High Frequency Follow-On (UFO) satellite system is a

United States Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD or DOD) is an executive branch department of the federal government charged with coordinating and supervising all agencies and functions of the government directly related to national secur ...

(DoD) program sponsored and operated by the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the Space force, space service branch of the United States Armed Forces, U.S. Armed Forces, one of the eight Uniformed services of the United States, U.S. uniformed services, and the world's only inde ...

to provide communications for airborne, ship, submarine and ground forces. The UFO constellation replaced the U.S. DoD

Fleet Satellite Communications System FLTSATCOM (also FLTSAT) is a satellite communication system of the U.S. Space Force which was used for UHF radio communications between ships, submarines, airplanes and ground stations of the Navy. Most of the transponders on these satellites ...

(FLTSATCOM) constellation and consisted of eleven satellites. The ground terminal segment consists of equipment and resident personnel at existing satellite communication stations. The satellites are controlled by the

10th Space Operations Squadron The 10th Space Operations Squadron (10 SOPS) is the United States Space Force unit responsible for operating the Mobile User Objective System and Ultra-High Frequency Follow-On satellite constellations, providing global communications to the U ...

(

Space Delta 8 Space Delta 8 (DEL 8) is the United States Space Force unit responsible for satellite communications and position, navigation, and timing. The Delta operates, among other constellations, the Global Positioning System for both military and civil ...

) located at the

Naval Base Ventura County Naval Base Ventura County (NBVC) is a United States Navy base in Ventura County, California. Formed by the merger of NAS Point Mugu and CBC Port Hueneme, NBVC is a diverse installation composed of three main locations — Point Mugu, Port Huenem ...

Point Mugu Point Mugu (, Chumash: ''Muwu'') is a cape or promontory within Point Mugu State Park on the Pacific Coast in Ventura County, near the city of Port Hueneme and the city of Oxnard. The name is believed to be derived from the Chumash Indian term ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the ...

Satellite description

The

Ultra high frequency Ultra high frequency (UHF) is the ITU designation for radio frequencies in the range between 300 megahertz (MHz) and 3 gigahertz (GHz), also known as the decimetre band as the wavelengths range from one meter to one tenth of a meter ...

(UHF) satellites primarily served tactical users. UFO provided almost twice as many channels as FLTSATCOM and has about 10% more power per channel. The

Extremely high frequency Extremely high frequency (EHF) is the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) designation for the band of radio frequencies in the electromagnetic spectrum from 30 to 300 gigahertz (GHz). It lies between the super high frequency band and the ...

(EHF) package on satellites four through eleven have an Earth coverage beam and a steerable five-degree spot beam that enhances its tactical use. The EHF capability also allows the UFO network to connect to the strategic

Milstar Milstar (Military Strategic and Tactical Relay) is a constellation of military communications satellites in geosynchronous orbit, which are operated by the United States Space Force, and provide secure and jam-resistant worldwide communicatio ...

system. Satellites eight, nine and ten also carry the

Global Broadcast Service The Global Broadcast Service (GBS) is a broadcast service rapidly transferring information, which may be classified, for the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and its deployed and garrisoned units worldwide. Information may include video and d ...

antennas that operate in the

Ka-band The Ka band (pronounced as either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum defined as frequencies in the range 26.5–40 gigahertz (GHz), i.e. wavelengths from slightly over one centime ...

. The

Atlas An atlas is a collection of maps; it is typically a bundle of maps of Earth or of a region of Earth. Atlases have traditionally been bound into book form, but today many atlases are in multimedia formats. In addition to presenting geograp ...

was the

launch vehicle A launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket designed to carry a payload (spacecraft or satellites) from the Earth's surface to outer space. Most launch vehicles operate from a launch pads, supported by a launch control center and syste ...

of choice; however, space shuttle compatibility existed. The UFO bus and payload weigh . The

solar panels A solar cell panel, solar electric panel, photo-voltaic (PV) module, PV panel or solar panel is an assembly of photovoltaic solar cells mounted in a (usually rectangular) frame, and a neatly organised collection of PV panels is called a phot ...

spans and produces 2,500

watts Watts is plural for ''watt'', the unit of power. Watts may also refer to: People * Watts (surname), list of people with the surname Watts Fictional characters *Watts, main character in the film '' Some Kind of Wonderful'' * Watts family, six cha ...

at the end of the planned 14-year lifetime. The UHF system supports stationary and mobile users including manportable, ships, submarines, aircraft and other mobile terminals. The UFO Follow-On system is scheduled for replacement by the

Mobile User Objective System The Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) is a United States Space Force narrowband military communications satellite system that supports a worldwide, multi-service population of users in the ultra high frequency (UHF) band. The system provides ...

(MUOS).

Launch

First launch of the UFO took place on 25 March 1993, with constellation completion dependent on replacement needs for the aging FLTSATCOM constellation.

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

* Boeing
UFO System
* GlobalSecurity.org

* GlobalSecurity.org

Military communications Equipment of the United States Space Force Military space program of the United States Satellites using the BSS-601 bus