Boeing’s WGS Effort Signals In Good Health

Boeing [NYSE: BA] has acquired signals from the first Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite. This is a new military spacecraft to help meet the growing demand for military satellite communications by providing a 10x increase in telecommunications capacity over the satellite it will replace.




This satellite is the first of five such vehicles that Boeing is building for the U.S. Air Force. The WGS satellite was successfully launched at 8:22 p.m. Eastern on Oct. 10 by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V vehicle from Cape Canaveral Air Force Base in Florida. Following a nominal 45-minute flight, the launch vehicle’s upper stage deployed the spacecraft. A ground station in Dongara, Australia, received the satellite’s first signals 47 minutes later at 9:09 p.m. Eastern. Boeing controllers in El Segundo, California, confirmed the satellite is healthy—St. Louis, Missouri