Sam LaGrone writes the branch’s third Mobile User Objective System satellite will fly aboard an Atlas V rocket and be placed in geostationary orbit.
The $7.3 billion MUOS program aims to provide a high-bandwidth satellite communications coverage setup to mobile users across the U.S. military.
Joseph Kan, the Navy’s MUOS program manager, said the branch expects the satellite network to achieve full operational capability in 2016, according to USNI News.
MUOS satellites are designed to connect to four ground terminals in Virginia, Hawaii, Italy and Western Australia.