据C4ISRNET2020年1月21日报道，1月16日，美空军授予雷神公司4420万美元合同，为B-52和RC-130飞机开发先进的抗干扰通信卫星技术。该合同是“先进超视距终端系列”（FAB-T）计划之一，旨在开发最安全可靠的通信卫星防护系统（包括总统和国家语音会议）和核指挥控制系统。2015年，国防部将FAB-T分为两部分：“指挥所终端（CPT）”分计划，开发地面站和E-4和E6飞机终端；以及“部队作战单元终端（FET）”分计划，开发B-53和RC-130的新终端。同一天， FAB-T合同办公室授予雷神公司36848806美元成本加固定金改进合同，为美国家安全局批准的系统开发软件加密平台，计划2023年3月完成。

With this upgrade, these aircraft will have anti-jamming comms

The Air Force has awarded a $442 million contract to Raytheon to develop new force element terminals to replace legacy systems aboard B-52s and RC-130s to provide access to the United States’ most advanced satellite communications. (A1C Gerald R. Willis/Air Force)

The Air Force awarded Raytheon a $442 million contract Jan. 16 to develop new technology that will allow the B-52 and RC-130 aircraft to utilize the nation’s advanced anti-jamming communications satellites.

The contract is part of the Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminals (FAB-T) program, an effort to replace legacy communication terminals with secure, nuclear-survivable terminals capable of utilizing the nation’s most secure communications satellites for protected communications — including Presidential and National Voice Conferencing — and nuclear command and control. In 2015, the Department of Defense divided the FAB-T program into two segments: the Command Post Terminals (CPT) subprogram, which will provide terminals for ground posts and E-4 and E6 aircraft, and the Force Element Terminal (FET) subprogram, which will place new terminals in B-52 and RC-135 aircraft.

The $442,265,464 cost-plus-incentive-fee undefinitized contract will provide for the latter, with Raytheon designing, developing, testing, integrating and providing logistical support for force element terminals for the two aircraft.

Once in place, the terminals will allow airmen within those aircraft to utilize a trio of highly advanced satellites: the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites, the Enhanced Polar System satellites, and the legacy Milstar satellites. The FAB-T terminals will also allow command and control of those three constellations.

According to the Government Accountability Office, the force element terminals are essential to the FAB-T program — without them, the program “cannot achieve its planned capabilities that are based on the interaction of bomber aircraft with intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft and CPTs.” The GAO also reports that due to delays in the FAB-T program, all six AEHF satellites are expected to be on orbit before the system is in place, resulting in an underutilization of costly satellite capabilities.

The same day, The FAB-T contracting office award Raytheon a $36,848,806 cost-plus-fixed-fee contract modification to develop a software encryption platform for the system approved by the National Security Administration. Work is expected to be completed by March 2023.

The Air Force Life Cycle Management Center also issued a Request for Information Jan. 15 seeking industry sources that can support the installation of the FAB-T Command Post Terminals worldwide. According to a May 2019 Government Accountability Office report, the CPT subprogram is expected to reach initial operating capability in June 2021 and full operational capability by March 2023. Raytheon is also the primary contractor for the CPT subprogram. Responses to that RFI are due Jan. 22.