The Air Force has approved Raytheon’s Minuteman Minimum Essential Emergency Communications Network program upgrade for full-rate production, announced the company. MMPU is a terminal designed to work with Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellites to provide assured communications between the President and strategic nuclear deterrent forces for nuclear command and control. Raytheon anticipates that it will deliver 67 MMPU terminals, including spares, to the Air Force. Raytheon also noted that MMPU recently underwent a series of operational tests with the first AEHF satellite on orbit, demonstrating interoperability with the satellite’s extended data rate waveform that moves data more than five times faster than previous EHF systems.
Two U.S. Air Force B-52 Stratofortress bombers flew with Japanese fighters over the Sea of Japan after a string of Chinese provocations toward Japan—including a joint bomber patrol with Russia—in response to Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi’s comments about Taiwan.
