Raytheon’s NMT Completes FRP Review by US Navy

Raytheon Company’s Navy Multiband Terminal (NMT), which will be installed on more than 300 U.S. Navy ships, subs and shore stations, has successfully completed a Full Rate Production (FRP) review by the Navy.

The review included a report that determined NMT was both operationally suitable and operationally effective, and further recommended the continued fleet introduction of NMT as a replacement for legacy military satellite communications systems.

Raytheon has already delivered 75 terminals under contract, with an estimated total of 350 over the life of the 15-year program.

NMT provides secure, protected communications links with orbiting military satellites. The terminals will give the United States and three international partners — Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom — up to five times the bandwidth with lower size, weight and power than the systems they will replace.

“Our Navy terminals can withstand the harshest of environments at sea while maintaining constant contact with the satellite,” said Scott Whatmough, vice president of Integrated Communication Systems in Raytheon’s Network Centric Systems business. “That means warfighters can accomplish their missions knowing they have secure, reliable, protected communications.”

NMT is one of three Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) terminals from Raytheon that have passed production acquisition milestone decisions and successfully tested with the on-orbit AEHF satellite. All three terminals have supported, and are fully compatible with, the military’s two on-orbit AEHF satellites, as well as with the legacy Milstar satellites.

Raytheon’s fielded terminals are ready to provide the military with fully interoperable communications as soon as the AEHF satellites complete testing and are operational. The terminals will provide long-awaited increased bandwidth using the satellite’s Extended Data Rate waveform, one of the military’s most complex, low probability-detect, anti-jam waveforms.

Raytheon is the only defense contractor with AEHF terminals for three branches of the military.

About Raytheon

Raytheon Company, with 2011 sales of $25 billion and 71,000 employees worldwide, is a technology and innovation leader specializing in defense, homeland security and other government markets throughout the world. With a history of innovation spanning 90 years, Raytheon provides state-of-the-art electronics, mission systems integration and other capabilities in the areas of sensing; effects; and command, control, communications and intelligence systems, as well as a broad range of mission support services. Raytheon is headquartered in Waltham, Mass.

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Naval Today Staff, December 19, 2012; Image: Raytheon