SATCOM

The US Air Force (USAF) has given authorisation to Boeing to build and launch the eighth and ninth wideband global SATCOM (WGS) satellites.

The WGS-9 authorisation and the WGS-8 production option have a combined value of $673m under the $1.09bn contract modification announced by the USAF last September, 2011.

Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems vice president and general manager Craig Cooning said with these options exercised, the company is able to expand the WGS constellation and provide communications resiliency for combatant commanders worldwide.

"This will give warfighters the ability to ensure that vital communication links are available at all times, even in the event that one or more critical nodes are disabled," Cooning added.

The WGS-8 and WGS-9 will join four other satellites of the Block II series. Block II series satellites add a switchable radio frequency bypass helping transmit airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery at data rates about three times beyond the rates available on Block I satellites.

This week the US signed an agreement with Canada, New Zealand, Denmark, Luxembourg and the Netherlands securing $620m contributions towards the ninth satellite, expected to cost about $1bn. The agreement expands the WGS international partnership beyond WGS-6, which was funded by the Australian Government in 2008.

"International participation in WGS is a win-win arrangement on many levels and the use of common SATCOM systems provides communications interoperability between allied forces," Cooning said.

"For the US military, the partners bring additional funding to expand the constellation and make it more resilient and for a relatively modest investment, international partners receive immediate access to worldwide services they might not otherwise be able to obtain."

Boeing’s WGS satellites are built on the company’s 702HP plaform which features efficient xenon-ion propulsion, deployable thermal radiators and triple-junction gallium-arsenide solar arrays that enable high-capacity, flexible payloads.

WGS satellite will support missions such as tactical communications to and between ground forces and relaying data and imagery from airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms. Ten satellites are planned to be launched under the $10bn WGS project.

Image: The WGS communication satellites are built on the Boeing 702HP platform. Image: Boeing.