AEHF 5 (USA 292)

Launch data:

Spacecraft data:

Description:

• AEHF-5 is the fifth satellite to be launched in the US Air Force′s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) program. This is a system of satellites dedicated to providing global survivable, secure, protected and jam-resistant communications to the armed forces of the United States and her allies.
• AEHF serves to augment the legacy Milstar communications system, a network of satellites deployed from 1994 to 2003 with which it is designed to be backward-compatible, as they approach the end of their service lives. AEHF will eventually replace the Milstar system, ensuring uninterrupted service to its users.

Mission details:

• ULA′s Atlas V flight AV-083, using the powerful 551 model, was launched on Aug 8, 2019. Centaur AV-083 made three burns to a high perigee GTO to drop off the strategic US military communications satellite AEHF 5.
  After the second burn, a 12U cubesat called TDO was ejected into geotransfer orbit.
• By Aug 21, AEHF 5 was in a 24870 x 35300 km orbit.

External links:

• AmericaSpace: Launch Information
• Satellite tracking (n2ya.com): Real time satellite tracking