The first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-1) military communications satellite reaches its intended operational orbit, after a 14-month delay. A thruster malfunction forced USAF and industry to devise an alternate orbit-raising plan, which employed different thrusters but did not impact the satellite’s planned 14-year service life.
RTX’s Raytheon unit was able to “significantly” extend the range of the AIM-120 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile using mostly software changes in experimental tests last year, expanding the reach and lethality of the standard U.S. dogfighting weapon, company officials said Sept. 15.
