Boeing has announced that the company and the U.S. Air Force recently completed intersegment tests of communications between a Family of Advanced Beyond Line-of-Sight Terminal (FAB-T) and an Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite vehicle (SV2) payload.

The tests demonstrated the ability of the FAB-T Nuclear Command and Control Network Communications System (NC2NCS) to communicate with the AEHF satellite payload.

"FAB-T continues to demonstrate increased functionality and development progress in air, ground and satellite communications," said John Lunardi, Boeing vice president and FAB-T program manager.

"Since we began working with the Air Force on this program, we've completed more than 65 percent of the hardware qualification and a significant portion of the software development for this complex set of systems."

When fielded, FAB-T will provide the United States' senior leaders with critical, protected wideband satellite communications via the AEHF system - a new class of secure satellites to support military forces.

"By conducting these intersegment tests now, we're able to validate the AEHF system and identify any needed improvements earlier in development," Lunardi added.

Conducted in a Sunnyvale, Calif., laboratory, the intersegment tests are part of a series of assessments to evaluate communications between the advanced FAB-T units and the new AEHF SV2 payload over extended periods of time.

They follow a series of flight tests conducted by the Air Force and Massachusetts Insitute of Technology's Lincoln Laboratory in 2009, in which a FAB-T engineering development model terminal communicated with and through the legacy Milstar Extremely High Frequency satellites.

The FAB-T NC2NCS terminals will support AEHF connectivity and provide backward compatibility for legacy payloads such as Milstar to communicate with B-2, B-52H and RC-135 aircraft.

The program also will include replacements for existing ground-fixed, ground-transportable and airborne E-4B/E-6B command post terminals.