The Air Force said yesterday that it intends to launch the first of its new communications satellites, the Boeing [BA]-built Wideband Global Satellite Communications (WGS) system, into orbit next Tuesday.
Barring weather or last-minute developments, the satellite will lift off aboard a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The WGS satellite, designated SV-1, will augment the Air Force’s aging constellation of Defense Satellite Communication System (DSCS) satellites that has been the backbone of on-orbit communications for more than two decades. Eventually WGS satellites will replace the DSCS assets, providing much faster transfer rates.
“I am extremely proud of the hard work and dedication of the launch team in working the long hours that have brought us to where we are today,” Col. Donald Robbins, commander of the Wideband Satellite Communications Group within the Space and Missile Systems Center, said in a statement. “With the launch of WGS SV-1, we are on the cusp of providing more capacity than the entire on-orbit Defense Satellite Communications System constellation.”
Boeing is under contract to build three WGS Block I satellites: SV-1, SV-2 and SV-3. The launches of SV-2 and SV-3 are scheduled for next year.
The Air Force has also tasked the company late last year to build two more advanced WGS Block II satellites: SV-4 and SV-5 (Defense Daily, Nov. 3, 2006). Their launches are projected for early next decade.
Boeing and industry partner ITT Corp. [ITT] earlier this year completed tests of the command-and-control element of the satellite’s payload, thereby clearing the way for the launch (Defense Daily, June 6).
The ULA is the joint venture of Boeing and Lockheed Martin [LMT].