The U.S. Air Force has awarded Raytheon Technologies a contract modification worth up to $2.01 billion to continue work on the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) terminal, a key communications system used to support secure military satellite networks, according to a contract announcement released March 13.
The modification triples the contract ceiling from its previous value of approximately $680 million, bringing the total potential value to nearly $3 billion, according to reporting from SatNews. The work will focus on producing nuclear-hardened satellite communications terminals for leverage on B-52 strategic bombers and RC-135 Rivet Joint reconnaissance aircraft.
Raytheon has been the Air Force’s primary contractor for the Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) since 2014. The $625 million contract announced this month is for production and logistics support of an unspecified number of FAB-T terminals. This follows a $442.3 million contract awarded in 2020 to design and develop the FAB-T terminal for communication with the AEHF network, as reported by AltaGrove.
The Air Force is upgrading the satcom terminals on its B-52 and RC-135 aircraft, replacing older systems designed to connect with the Milstar satellite constellation with the newer AEHF constellation. AEHF terminals provide jam-resistant, nuclear-survivable communications for strategic and tactical military users across the U.S. Armed forces and allied nations.
The FAB-T program has faced significant delays, with a Space Force report from February 2023 noting the program was more than a decade behind schedule. The program was previously led by Boeing before the Air Force selected Raytheon as the prime contractor.
Raytheon provides protected AEHF terminals for the Air Force, Army, and Navy, with over 500 systems currently in service, according to Shephard. The company’s work on these terminals is critical for maintaining secure communications capabilities in contested environments.
The contract was awarded as a sole-source contract to Raytheon, as noted in the USAspending.gov entry for the award. The Air Force Nuclear Weapons Center made the award.
