The Milstar 5 satellite in the Lockheed Martin clean room prior to shipment to Cape Canaveral. Photo: Lockheed Martin

Trumpeted as the U.S. military's most technologically advanced telecommunications satellite, the fifth Milstar spacecraft has arrived at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station to be readied for launch aboard a Titan 4B rocket.

The $800 million Military Strategic and Tactical Relay (Milstar) satellite was shipped from its manufacturing plant at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Sunnyvale, Calif.

"This event is the culmination of years of hard work by the government/industry team and will provide a significant increase in communications capability for the military forces," said Christine Anderson, the MILSATCOM Joint Program Office director.

Liftoff is scheduled for January 15 during an available window of 4:48 to 8:48 p.m. EST (2148-0148 GMT) from Complex 40.

Milstar acts as a smart switchboard in space, allowing users on foot, ships, submarines or aircraft to establish critical communications networks on the fly. The communications are secure, jam-resistant and have a low probability of being intercepted.

This new satellite will join three others operating in space as part of the Milstar constellation providing protected, global communication links for the joint forces of the U.S. military and can transmit voice, data, and imagery, in addition to offering video teleconferencing capabilities.

An artist's concept of a Milstar satellite in space. Photo: Lockheed Martin Force

Milstar Flight 5 will increase the constellation's capability to provide near-global coverage for the nation's strategic forces, Air Force's space warning assets and operationally deployed military forces.

The satellite is the second to carry the Medium Data Rate (MDR) payload. Built by Boeing Satellite Systems, the MDR payload has 32 channels, which can process data at speeds of 1.5 megabits per second.

The spacecraft also features the Low Data Rate (LDR) payload, built by TRW Space and Electronics. TRW also supplies MDR antennas and a digital processor to Boeing.

The Milstar team is led by the MILSATCOM Joint Program Office at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale Operations, is the prime contractor and lead systems integrator. Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) provides the Medium Data Rate payload and crosslink subsystem, and TRW Space & Electronics Group provides the Low Data Rate payload.

The sixth and final Milstar satellite is scheduled for launch in November 2002.