Overview
- The U.S. Space Force selected Boeing to design, develop, produce and test two next-generation Mobile User Objective System satellites under a contract worth up to $2 billion.
- Boeing prevailed over Lockheed Martin in the head-to-head competition for the MUOS Service Life Extension effort that the Space Force started after assuming the network from the Navy.
- The two satellites are intended to augment or replace the five Lockheed-built MUOS spacecraft now in service because those older satellites have raised long-term reliability concerns.
- MUOS operates in the ultra-high-frequency band and acts like a cellphone network in space, giving troops, ships, aircraft and special operations forces resilient narrowband links that penetrate foliage, urban areas and some weather.
- The contract moves the program into design and production phases with deliveries due by 2035, a development that keeps a government-controlled narrowband capability in place even as commercial satellite services grow and could affect procurement and industry competition going forward.