The Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has completed three tests of a new anti-jamming capability for satellite communications at the end of 2020, C4ISRNet reported on Friday.
The Mitigation and Anti-Jam Enhancement (MAJE) Program will provide advanced anti-jamming support for Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS), which provides satellite communications to warfighters. SMC expects to complete the transition of the anti-jamming system to the U.S. Army for operational use in spring 2022.
Once integrated the capability will enable the WGS constellation to pinpoint and mitigate attempts to jam its signal. “The MAJE system will double the anti-jam capabilities for 16,000+ users,” Maj. Shawna Matthys, WGS-11+ program manager, said in a statement.
The system will provide software and hardware upgrades to the Army’s Global SATCOM Configuration Control Element. The ground system will be leveraged to detect, identify, locate and mitigate interference with WGS satellites.
The three tests were conducted virtually with support from prime contractor Boeing. SMC said that the tests “verified system design and MAJE’s ability to provide telemetry and successfully locate signals interfering with WGS satellites.”
The three tests conducted were the maintenance engineering evaluation, the payload application software formal qualification testing, and first article test (FAT) increment 4.
The last in that list is the test that demonstrated the system’s ability to geolocate signals interfering with WGS. A fifth increment will complete multi-capability and end-to-end testing, which will enable the system to begin interface verification with U.S. Army subsystems.
“The teamwork and transparency between Boeing and the combined government teams to get these capabilities verified in a virtual environment was truly impressive. It shows how dedicated we are to getting these capabilities out to the war fighter despite an ongoing pandemic,” WGS chief engineer Steve Hayden said.
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