BOSTON – Customers of XM Satellite Radio aren’t the only ones who appreciate its digital quality and nationwide coverage. The American military might draft XM’s service for homeland security purposes.

XM and Raytheon have jointly built a communications system that would use XM’s satellites to relay information to soldiers and emergency responders during a crisis.

The Mobile Enhanced Situational Awareness Network, known as MESA, would get a dedicated channel on XM’s satellites that would be accessible only on devices given to emergency personnel. The receivers would be the same as the portable ones available to consumers, with slight modifications to make them more rugged.

The military often leases transmission space on commercial satellites, but this collaboration between a massive defense contractor and a fun-loving radio network – XM’s first two satellites were dubbed “Rock” and “Roll,” and its next two might be “Rhythm” and “Blues” – is unusual.

It began last year when engineers with Waltham, Mass.-based Raytheon were looking for an inexpensive system that would help emergency responders and soldiers coordinate their actions after a natural disaster or terrorist strike. Existing communications systems for such scenarios can be bulky and expensive.

Commercial satellite radio receivers, in contrast, are lightweight, battery powered, and cost as little as $99. Their digital transmissions have enough bandwidth to carry maps and other imagery, which would be displayed on portable computers that plug into the satellite receivers. And the system can be programmed to relay information just to specific devices if need be, so individual users can get messages appropriate to their regions.

While XM’s service only reaches North America, Raytheon has signed on with Worldspace, a satellite radio provider in Africa, Asia, and Europe, for global coverage. That system debuted in March during tsunami relief efforts in Asia, when Raytheon and Worldspace gave satellite receivers to aid agencies to coordinate their activities, said Mike Fleenor, the MESA program manager at Raytheon.

Even before that, MESA’s domestic potential had attracted the interest of officials at U.S. Northern Command in Colorado Springs, Colo., which is responsible for homeland security missions.