[SatNews] Boeing [NYSE: BA] 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. 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.

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.