Air Force space officials announced that AEHF-2, the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency communications satellite, is now encapsulated in its launch fairing in preparation for its scheduled launch into orbit this week from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. The current launch date—barring inclement weather—is May 3, stated Space and Missile Systems Center officials on April 27. A United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket will carry the satellite aloft. SMC said engineers at Astrotech Space Operations’ facility in Titusville, Fla., completed the encapsulation procedure on April 21. “The second AEHF spacecraft will provide greater connectivity, flexibility, and control to US and international partner forces,” said Col. Michael Sarchet, AEHF program manager. He added, “The AEHF constellation will augment and replace the venerable Milstar constellation, improving on many capabilities to include 10 times greater throughput.”
Defense Secretary Lloyd J. Austin III chaired a China-focused military briefing Oct. 27, part of a biweekly series of briefings with senior military commanders about China’s growing threat in the wake of an orbital hypersonic weapon test that elicited public worries from the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs. “What we…