WASHINGTON, Aug. 8 (Xinhua) -- The United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched on Thursday an Atlas V rocket carrying a satellite to provide jam-proof communications to the armed forces of the United States.

The rocket was lifted off at about 6:13 Eastern Time (1013 GMT) from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Atlas V mission is traveling through space on its six-hour mission to deliver the satellite into an optimized, high-energy geosynchronous transfer orbit.

The payload is the fifth communications satellite in the Lockheed Martin-built Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) series for the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center.

The AEHF system, developed by Lockheed Martin, provides global, survivable, and protected communications capabilities for strategic command and tactical warfighters, according to the ULA.