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Flight 6 Duca

Northrop Grumman engineers prepare to test distributed user coverage antennas (DUCAs) in 1999 for the medium data rate (MDR) communications payload of the sixth Milstar satellite. Six DUCAs and two accompanying adaptive nulling antennas aboard each MDR payload will enable military users anywhere on Earth to communicate voice, video and data securely at rates as high as 1.544 megabits per second, or roughly 50 times faster than the modem of today's personal computers. Generally speaking, the DUCAs serve the needs of dispersed global users, such as U.S. Navy vessels. The nulling antennas, which have the ability to detect and screen out electronic signal-jamming by enemy forces, are better suited to theater-type requirements. The DUCAs are key components of the tactically oriented Milstar MDR payload that Boeing Satellite Systems is integrating for Lockheed Martin, the Milstar prime contractor. Milstar Flight 6 is scheduled to launch in 2002.