Boeing’s high capacity WGS-2 military communications satellite ready for testing

07 Apr 2009

1

Cape Canaveral, Fla.: Aerospace major and arms contractor, Boeing Co said it has acquired the first on-orbit signals from the second of six Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellites that the company is building for the US Air Force. Boeing said the spacecraft is now ready to begin orbital maneuvers and operational testing.

According to Boeing, the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellites are the key elements of a high-capacity system that will provide a quantum leap in communications capabilities for the warfighter.

Following a series of orbital maneuvers and rigorous on-orbit testing, WGS-2 will begin operating for the USAF. WGS-1, which entered service in April 2008, and WGS-2 will increase the communications capacity bandwidth available to the USAF and help meet the growing demand for military satellite communications.

The WGS satellites are Boeing 702 platforms with 13 kilowatts of power, flexible coverage areas, and the ability to connect X-band and Ka-band users anywhere within their field of view via reconfigurable antennas and a digital channelizer. The satellites' ability to transmit on X-band, Ka-band, or both, is not available on any other military satellite communications system.

Boeing is building three Block I and three Block II WGS satellites.

The Block II satellites will include a radio frequency bypass designed to support airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms requiring additional bandwidth.  

WGS
WGS will support the Dept of Defense's warfighting information exchange requirements, enable execution of tactical command and control, communications, and computers; intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (C4ISR); battle management; and combat support information. WGS will also augment the current Ka-band Global Broadcast Service (on UHF F/O satellites) by providing additional information broadcast capabilities.

Each WGS can route 2.1 to 3.6 Gbps of data -- providing more than 10 times the communications capacity of the predecessor DSCS III satellite. Using reconfigurable antennas and a digital channelizer, WGS also offers added flexibility to tailor coverage areas and to connect X-band and Ka-band users anywhere within the satellite field of view. The system provides tremendous operational flexibility and delivers the needed capacity, coverage, connectivity and control in support of demanding operational scenarios.

The WGS space segment will initially consist of three geostationary satellites operating over Pacific, Indian and Atlantic regions. Under a Block II contract, a fourth and fifth satellite are being procured to meet the warfighter's evolving SATCOM bandwidth requirements.

The Block II satellites will be similar to the three Block I satellites already in production and will add a radio frequency bypass capability designed to support airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms requiring ultra-high bandwidth and data rates demanded by unmanned aerial vehicles.

WGS is supporting US government objectives for the Transformational Communications Architecture in the next decade and beyond.

Boeing was awarded the WGS initial contract in January 2001 for the first three satellites plus the associated ground-based command and control elements. Integrated logistics, training, and sustaining engineering support are also provided by Boeing. In 2006, Boeing was authorized to produce two additional WGS satellites. The procuring agency is the US Air Force Space Command's MILSATCOM Systems Wing at Los Angeles AFB, California.

Business History Videos

History of hovercraft Part 3...

Today I shall talk a bit more about the military plans for ...

By Kiron Kasbekar | Presenter: Kiron Kasbekar

History of hovercraft Part 2...

In this episode of our history of hovercraft, we shall exam...

By Kiron Kasbekar | Presenter: Kiron Kasbekar

History of Hovercraft Part 1...

If you’ve been a James Bond movie fan, you may recall seein...

By Kiron Kasbekar | Presenter: Kiron Kasbekar

History of Trams in India | ...

The video I am presenting to you is based on a script writt...

By Aniket Gupta | Presenter: Sheetal Gaikwad

view more