Up until now Boeing's [NYSE: BA] tests of Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellites inside a thermal-vacuum chamber have been completed successfully and in record time. Once again their technicians prepare the third Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite for an around-the-clock sequence of tests inside a thermal-vacuum chamber at the company's satellite manufacturing facility. Boeing is building six WGS satellites for the U.S. Air Force; the first was put into operation in April.

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, and they support the DoD's warfighting information exchange requirements, enabling 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.

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. The procuring agency is the U.S. Air Force Space Command's MILSATCOM Systems Wing at Los Angeles AFB, California. 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.