MC-2941 Wideband Global SATCOM Satellite

The Wideband Global SATCOM system (WGS) is a high capacity

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space force branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is one of the six United States Armed Forces, armed forces of the United States and one of the eight uniformed services of the Unite ...

satellite communications A communications satellite is an artificial satellite that relays and amplifies radio telecommunication signals via a transponder; it creates a communication channel between a source transmitter and a receiver at different locations on Earth. ...

system planned for use in partnership by the United States

Department of Defense The United States Department of Defense (DoD, USDOD, or DOD) is an executive department of the U.S. federal government charged with coordinating and supervising the six U.S. armed services: the Army, Navy, Marines, Air Force, Space Force, ...

(DoD), Canadian Department of National Defence (DND) and the Australian Department of Defence. The system is composed of the ''Space Segment'' satellites, the ''Terminal Segment'' users and the ''Control Segment'' operators. DoD

wideband In communications, a system is wideband when the message bandwidth significantly exceeds the coherence bandwidth of the channel. Some communication links have such a high data rate that they are forced to use a wide bandwidth; other links ma ...

satellite communication services are currently provided by a combination of the existing

Defense Satellite Communications System The Defense Satellite Communications System (DSCS) is a United States Space Force satellite constellation that provides the United States with military communications to support globally distributed military users. Beginning in 2007, DSCS began ...

(DSCS) and Global Broadcast Service (GBS) satellites. According to

United Launch Alliance United Launch Alliance, LLC (ULA) is an American launch service provider formed in December 2006 as a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Space and Boeing Defense, Space & Security. The company designs, assembles, sells and launches rockets ...

, quoted on ''Spaceflight Now'', "A single WGS spacecraft has as much bandwidth as the entire existing DSCS constellation." WGS operations are currently run by the

4th Space Operations Squadron The United States Space Force's 4th Space Operations Squadron (4 SOPS) is a satellite operations unit located at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado. 4 SOPS is part of Space Delta 8 and responsible for command and control of the Milstar/Adv ...

, out of

Schriever Space Force Base Schriever Space Force Base, previously Schriever Air Force Base, Falcon Air Force Base, and Falcon Air Force Station, is a base of the United States Space Force located approximately east of Peterson Space Force Base near Colorado Springs, Col ...

, as well as the 53rd Space Operations Squadron.

Mission

The constellation of WGS satellites increases the communications capabilities of the militaries of the United States, Canada, and Australia by providing additional bandwidth and communications capabilities for tactical command and control,

communications Communication is commonly defined as the transmission of information. Its precise definition is disputed and there are disagreements about whether Intention, unintentional or failed transmissions are included and whether communication not onl ...

, and

computers A computer is a machine that can be programmed to automatically carry out sequences of arithmetic or logical operations ('' computation''). Modern digital electronic computers can perform generic sets of operations known as ''programs'', ...

;

intelligence Intelligence has been defined in many ways: the capacity for abstraction, logic, understanding, self-awareness, learning, emotional knowledge, reasoning, planning, creativity, critical thinking, and problem-solving. It can be described as t ...

surveillance Surveillance is the monitoring of behavior, many activities, or information for the purpose of information gathering, influencing, managing, or directing. This can include observation from a distance by means of electronic equipment, such as ...

, and

reconnaissance In military operations, military reconnaissance () or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, the terrain, and civil activities in the area of operations. In military jargon, reconnai ...

(C4ISR); battle management; and combat support information. Canada has also signed on to become a partner. WGS also augments the current

Ka-band The Ka band (pronounced as either "kay-ay band" or "ka band") is a portion of the microwave part of the electromagnetic spectrum. The designation "Ka-band" is from Kurz-above, which stems from the German word ''kurz,'' meaning "short". There ...

Global Broadcast Service ( on UHF F/O satellites) by providing additional information broadcast capabilities as well as providing new two-way capability on that band. It provides services to the US DoD and Australian Department of Defence. The IWS System supports continuous 24-hour-per-day wideband satellite services to tactical users and some fixed infrastructure users. Limited protected services will be provided under conditions of stress to selected users employing terrestrial

modems The Democratic Movement (, ; MoDem ) is a centre to centre-right political party in France, whose main ideological trends are liberalism and Christian democracy, and that is characterised by a strong pro-Europeanist stance. MoDem was establish ...

capable of providing protection against jamming.

Capabilities

The WGS satellites will complement the DSCS III Service Life Enhancement Program (SLEP) and GBS payloads and will offset the eventual decline in DSCS III capability. WGS will offer 4.875 GHz of instantaneous switchable bandwidth, thus each WGS can supply more than 10 times the capacity of a DSCS III Service Life Enhancement Program (SLEP) satellite. Once the full constellation of 6 WGS satellites is operational, they will replace the DSCS system. WGS-1 with its 2.4 Gbit/s

capacity, provided greater capability and bandwidth than all the DSCS satellites combined.

Segments

Operation and usage of the system is broken into 3 segments. The end users of the communication services provided by the WGS are described by the DoD as the terminal segment. Users include the

Australian Defence Force The Australian Defence Force (ADF) is the Armed forces, military organisation responsible for the defence of Australia and its national interests. It consists of three branches: the Royal Australian Navy (RAN), Australian Army and the Royal Aus ...

and

U.S. Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of the United Stat ...

ground mobile terminals,

U.S. Navy The United States Navy (USN) is the maritime service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is the world's most powerful navy with the largest displacement, at 4.5 million tons in 2021. It has the world's largest aircraft ...

ships and

submarine A submarine (often shortened to sub) is a watercraft capable of independent operation underwater. (It differs from a submersible, which has more limited underwater capability.) The term "submarine" is also sometimes used historically or infor ...

s, national command authorities for the nuclear forces, and various national security/allied national forces. Additionally, the

Satellite Control Network The Satellite Control Network (SCN), operated by the United States Space Force's Space Delta 6, provides support for the operation, control, and maintenance of a variety of United States Department of Defense and some non-DoD satellites. This in ...

will also use the WGS in a similar manner as the DSCS III constellation is used to route ATM packets through the

Defense Information Systems Agency The Defense Information Systems Agency (DISA), known as the Defense Communications Agency (DCA) until 1991, is a United States Department of Defense (DoD) combat support agency. It is composed of military, federal civilians, and contractors. D ...

(DISA) "cloud" to establish command and control streams with various satellite constellations. One of the emerging applications is SATCOM-ON-The-Move which is now being extensively used on the military tactical vehicles for Blue Force Tracking and C3 missions. The satellite operators in charge of commanding and monitoring the satellite's bus and payload systems as well as managing the network operating over the satellite are the control segment. Like the DSCS constellation that WGS will replace, spacecraft bus is commanded by the

Colorado Colorado is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States. It is one of the Mountain states, sharing the Four Corners region with Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. It is also bordered by Wyoming to the north, Nebraska to the northeast, Kansas ...

. Payload commanding and network control is handled by the Army 53rd Signal Battalion headquartered at nearby

Peterson Space Force Base Peterson Space Force Base, previously Peterson Air Force Base, Peterson Field, and Army Air Base, Colorado Springs, is a United States Space Force base that shares an airfield with the adjacent Colorado Springs Municipal Airport and is home to ...

, Colorado with subordinate elements A Company at

Fort Detrick Fort Detrick () is a United States Army Futures Command installation located in Frederick, Maryland. Fort Detrick was the center of the U.S. biological weapons program from 1943 to 1969. Since the discontinuation of that program, it has hosted m ...

Maryland Maryland ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic region of the United States. It borders the states of Virginia to its south, West Virginia to its west, Pennsylvania to its north, and Delaware to its east ...

, B Company at

Fort Meade Fort George G. Meade is a United States Army installation located in Maryland, that includes the Defense Information School, the Defense Media Activity, the United States military bands#Army Field Band, United States Army Field Band, and the head ...

, Maryland, C Company at

Landstuhl Landstuhl (), officially the Sickingen Town of Landstuhl (), is a town in the district of Kaiserslautern, in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It is the seat of the Municipal Association of Landstuhl. Situated on the north-west edge of the Palatin ...

, Germany, D Company at

Wahiawa, Hawaii Wahiawā () is a census-designated place (CDP) in Honolulu County, Hawaii, Honolulu County, Hawaii, United States, on the island of Oahu. It is in the Wahiawā District, on the plateau or "central valley" between the two volcanic mountains that ...

, and E Company at

Fort Buckner Fort Buckner is a United States Army base located immediately south of Camp Foster, near Futenma, on Okinawa, Japan. The 78th Signal Battalion and E Co. of the 53d Signal Battalion (SATCON) are the only units on this small installation. All loc ...

Okinawa most commonly refers to: * Okinawa Prefecture, Japan's southernmost prefecture * Okinawa Island, the largest island of Okinawa Prefecture * Okinawa Islands, an island group including Okinawa itself * Okinawa (city), the second largest city in th ...

, Japan. The primary contractor for the satellites themselves is

Boeing Satellite Development Center The Boeing Satellite Development Center is a major business unit of Boeing Defense, Space & Security. It brought together Boeing satellite operations with that of GM Hughes Electronics' Hughes Aircraft#Hughes Space and Communications Group, S ...

, which is building them around the Boeing 702HP

satellite bus A satellite bus (or spacecraft bus) is the main body and structural component of a satellite or spacecraft, in which the payload and all scientific instruments are held. Bus-derived satellites are less customized than specially-produced satelli ...

. Originally five satellites were planned. On 3 October 2007, Australia's Department of Defence announced that the country would fund a sixth satellite in the constellation. Once in their orbits at an altitude of , each will weigh approximately . The program intends to use both the

Delta IV Delta IV was a group of five expendable launch systems in the Delta rocket family. It flew 45 missions from 2002 to 2024. Originally designed by Boeing's Defense, Space and Security division for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) p ...

and the

Atlas V Atlas V is an expendable launch system and the fifth major version in the Atlas (rocket family), Atlas launch vehicle family. It was developed by Lockheed Martin and has been operated by United Launch Alliance (ULA) since 2006. Primarily used to ...

launch vehicle A launch vehicle is typically a rocket-powered vehicle designed to carry a payload (a crewed spacecraft or satellites) from Earth's surface or lower atmosphere to outer space. The most common form is the ballistic missile-shaped multistage ...

s. The

Air Force Space Command An atmosphere () is a layer of gases that envelop an astronomical object, held in place by the gravity of the object. A planet retains an atmosphere when the gravity is great and the temperature of the atmosphere is low. A stellar atmosphere ...

estimates each satellite will cost approximately US$300 million. The first three WGS satellites form Block I of the space segment. The next three, WGS satellites 4, 5, and 6, make up Block II. The next four, WGS-7, -8, -9, and -10, make up Block II Follow-On.

Launches

Block I

The first launch of WGS-1 was conducted by

(ULA) on 11 October 2007, at 00:22

UTC Coordinated Universal Time (UTC) is the primary time standard globally used to regulate clocks and time. It establishes a reference for the current time, forming the basis for civil time and time zones. UTC facilitates international communica ...

. The satellite was carried by an

421 launch vehicle lifting off from SLC-41 at

Cape Canaveral Air Force Station Cape Canaveral Space Force Station (CCSFS) is an installation of the United States Space Force's Space Launch Delta 45, located on Cape Canaveral in Brevard County, Florida. Headquartered at the nearby Patrick Space Force Base, the sta ...

(CCAFS). After launch, the WGS-1 satellite was given the U.S. military designation USA-195. Its coverage area stretches from the

West Coast of the United States The West Coast of the United States, also known as the Pacific Coast and the Western Seaboard, is the coastline along which the Western United States meets the North Pacific Ocean. The term typically refers to the Contiguous United States, contig ...

Southeast Asia Southeast Asia is the geographical United Nations geoscheme for Asia#South-eastern Asia, southeastern region of Asia, consisting of the regions that are situated south of China, east of the Indian subcontinent, and northwest of the Mainland Au ...

. The launch of the second satellite, WGS-2 ( USA-204), was also conducted by ULA, on 4 April 2009 at 01:31:00 UTC, using an Atlas V 421 launch vehicle. The WGS-2 satellite was positioned over the equator around 60° East

longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...

(over the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or approximately 20% of the water area of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia (continent), ...

) for use by

United States Central Command The United States Central Command (USCENTCOM or CENTCOM) is one of the eleven unified combatant commands of the United States Department of Defense, U.S. Department of Defense. It was established in 1983, taking over the previous responsibilit ...

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

and other parts of

Southwest Asia West Asia (also called Western Asia or Southwest Asia) is the westernmost region of Asia. As defined by most academics, UN bodies and other institutions, the subregion consists of Anatolia, the Arabian Peninsula, Iran, Mesopotamia, the Armenia ...

. Originally, the second spacecraft was to fly on the Delta IV M+ (5,4), and the third on the Atlas V 421, but they were switched for an undisclosed reason. WGS-3 (USA-211) was launched on 6 December 2009, at 01:47:00 UTC, covers the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five borders of the oceans, oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth#Surface, Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the ...

. The satellite was launched by a Delta IV M+ (5,4) launch vehicle, originally an Atlas V 421 but replaced with WGS-2.

Block II

WGS-4 (USA-233), the first satellite of the Block II, was launched by

(ULA) from SLC-37B at the

(CCAFS) by a Delta IV M+ (5,4) on 20 January 2012, at 00:38:00 UTC. WGS-5 (USA-243) was successfully launched by a Delta IV launch vehicle flying in the Medium+ (5,4) configuration, with lift-off taking place from SLC-37B in Florida on 25 May 2013, at 00:27 UTC. WGS-6 (USA-244) was launched on a

launch vehicle on 8 August 2013, at 00:29 UTC from

(CCAFS).

Block II Follow-On

On 23 August 2010, Boeing was awarded an Air Force contract worth US$182 million to begin work on the seventh WGS satellite. The new satellite was procured under the WGS Block II Follow-On contract which included options for production of up to six WGS satellites. WGS-7 (USA-263) was successfully launched by a Delta IV Medium+ (5,4) launch vehicle, with lift-off taking place from Space Launch Complex 37B (SLC-37B) in Florida on 24 July 2015, at 00:57 UTC. WGS-8 (USA-272) was successfully launched by a Delta IV Medium+ (5,4) launch vehicle on 7 December 2016 at 23:52 UTC from SLC-37B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The Delta IV's Delta Cryogenic Second Stage deployed the satellite as planned on 8 December 2016, at 00:35 UTC. WGS-9 (USA-275) was launched on 19 March 2017, at 00:18:00 UTC. It was launched on a Delta IV Medium+ (5,4) launch vehicle. The satellite was partially-funded by allied nations, including Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands,

Luxembourg Luxembourg, officially the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg, is a landlocked country in Western Europe. It is bordered by Belgium to the west and north, Germany to the east, and France on the south. Its capital and most populous city, Luxembour ...

, New Zealand and the United States, for military access to the entire WGS constellation. WGS-10 (USA-291) was launched atop a Delta IV Medium+ (5,4) launch vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on 16 March 2019, at 02:26 UTC. WGS-10 is the latest part of a constellation of highly-capable communications satellites that serve the armed forces of the United States and its allies. It carries

and

X-band The X band is the designation for a band of frequency, frequencies in the microwave radio region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In some cases, such as in communication engineering, the frequency range of the X band is set at approximately 7.0� ...

transponders In telecommunications, a transponder is a device that, upon receiving a signal, emits a different signal in response. The term is a blend of ''transmitter'' and ''responder''. In air navigation or radio frequency identification, a flight trans ...

with 8.088

gigahertz The hertz (symbol: Hz) is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event (or cycle) per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base un ...

of bandwidth. In 2019, Boeing received a contract to build an 11th WGS satellite. WGS-11 is to be completed by Boeing by 2024 under a US$605 million contract.

References

External links

* {{USAF space vehicles Communications satellite constellations Military satellites Telecommunications equipment Satellites using the BSS-702 bus Proposed telecommunications infrastructure Military space program of the United States Spacecraft launched by Atlas rockets Spacecraft launched by Delta IV rockets Equipment of the United States Space Force Military equipment introduced in the 2000s