Beyond Line of Sight satellite terminals to allow U.S. leaders to communicate during a nuclear conflict are ready for low-rate production.

The Air Force said Milestone C approval for what is known as the Family of Advanced Beyond Line of Sight Terminal, or FAB-T, program was granted recently by the Department of Defense acquisition board.

"This milestone would not have been possible without the hard work, attention to detail, and laser focus on mission success from every member of our expert government and industry teams," said Lt. Gen. Samuel Greaves, Space and Missile Systems Center commander and Air Force Program Executive Officer for Space. "FAB-T will allow seamless, uninterrupted command and control of our strategic forces in any denied-access arena."

The FAB-T program is to provide leaders with secure, survivable, satellite communication during all phases of nuclear conflict. FAB-T terminals are designed to communicate with Milstar and Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite systems via AEHF waveforms.

Capabilities include presidential national voice conferencing, integrated tactical warning attack assessment, emergency action message dissemination, satellite telemetry, tracking and control and force reporting.

Raytheon is the contractor for FAB-T production. It is to produce 84 airborne and ground terminals. The airborne terminals are to be outfitted onto E-4B and E-6B aircraft.

The ground terminals will come in both fixed and mobile variants under the low-rate initial production contract, which is worth $298 million.

This low-rate initial production lot will include 10 command post terminals, four of them airborne terminals.

The Air Force expects the system to gain full operational capability by 2022.