Boeing WGS-5 Arrives in Florida to Prepare for ULA Delta 4 Launch

Boeing has shipped its fifth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite, which aims to provide faster transmission of airborne intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance imagery to the United States Air Force. WGS-5 arrived at the Astrotech processing facility March 9 and will undergo preflight checkout, fueling and integration before its launch later this year on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
   WGS-5 is part of the Air Force’s upgraded Block 2 series, featuring performance upgrades such as a switchable radio frequency bypass that sends imagery approximately three times faster than the data rates currently available to the U.S. Department of Defense. The satellite will join four other Boeing-built WGS satellites to provide warfighters with instant, secure, worldwide connectivity.
   “We worked closely with the Air Force to follow a commercial operating model on the Block II follow-on contract,” Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems Vice President and General Manager Craig Cooning said in a statement. “This new model has saved the Air Force more than $150 million without compromising mission assurance.”
  WGS satellites include enhanced capabilities designed for flexible communications in both X- and Ka-band frequencies, allowing terminals that operate in different frequency bands to interconnect and reposition coverage beams based on evolving mission needs. WGS-6 is the next satellite in the series to be produced under the Block 2 contract. The satellite completed testing and is scheduled for a mid-2013 launch date. WGS satellites -7 through -10 are in production under a Block 2 follow-on contract signed in August 2010.