{"id":86383,"date":"2010-08-18T19:49:32","date_gmt":"2010-08-18T11:49:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/wgs-3-satellite-enters-service-completes-u-s-air-force-block-1-network\/"},"modified":"2010-08-18T19:49:32","modified_gmt":"2010-08-18T11:49:32","slug":"wgs-3-satellite-enters-service-completes-u-s-air-force-block-1-network","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/wgs-3-satellite-enters-service-completes-u-s-air-force-block-1-network\/","title":{"rendered":"WGS-3 Satellite Enters Service; Completes U.S. Air Force Block 1 Network"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The third Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) military communications satellite, WGS-3, has entered service for the <strong>U.S. Air Force<\/strong>,  completing the military\u2019s Block 1 constellation, designed to deliver  improved broadband communications to U.S. military forces and their  allies around the world.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp; The WGS-3 satellite, built by <strong>Boeing<\/strong> and located  over the Atlantic Ocean, joins the first two WGS satellites operating  over the Pacific Ocean and Middle East to provide high-data-rate  communications links to support delivery of everything from full-motion  video captured by unmanned aerial vehicles to e-mail, television and  other quality-of-life services for U.S. warfighters overseas.<br \/>\nBoeing Space and Intelligence Systems\u2019 Bob Pickard told Satellite News  that the successful launch and operation of WGS-3 provides a stepping  stone to the company\u2019s work on the Air Force\u2019s Block 2 constellations,  which it is also under contract to build. \u201cThis is a satellite program  that continues to deliver positive results and significant value to the  warfighter. Boeing is progressing well in building the 3 Block 2  satellites and is working with the Air Force on a follow-on series with  up to six more satellites.\u201d<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Boeing acquired the first on-orbit signals from the WGS-3 spacecraft in December. The satellite was launched on a <strong>United Launch Alliance<\/strong>  Delta 4 rocket. Its X- and Ka-band payload has the capacity to transmit  information at rates of more than three gigabits per second \u2013 more than  10 times the capacity of the government\u2019s Defense Satellite  Communications legacy system. During operational testing in 2009, the  government successfully transmitted a record-breaking 440  megabits-per-second communications test signal through a WGS satellite. <br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Air Force Col. Don Robbins, the WGS satcom group commander said the  WGS is providing crucial benefits for military operations. \u201cThis  milestone means that our warfighters around the world, even deep in the  mountains or far out at sea, can now reap the benefits of high-capacity  communications. WGS delivers the information they need to make quicker  decisions, which is a key enabler of mission success. This is a system  that saves warfighters\u2019 lives and makes their lives better.\u201d<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp; \u201cNew airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance platforms  require increased bandwidth, and we\u2019re enhancing the Block 2 WGS  satellites to deliver that critical capability. WGS is proving to be a  cost-effective solution that delivers results for warfighters today and  can be evolved to meet the military\u2019s future communications needs,\u201d  Boeing Vice President of Navigation and Communications Systems Ken Torok  said in a statement.<br \/>\n&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; Under its current Block 2 contract with the Air Force, three more  WGS satellites that are scheduled for launch in 2012 and 2013. Boeing  received a $299.8 million contract from the Air Force for production of  the fourth WGS satellite in November 2006. The entire Block 2 contract  is worth $1.1 billion. WGS-4 will be similar to the three Block 1  satellites Boeing manufactured, but will add a radio frequency bypass  capability designed to support airborne intelligence, surveillance and  reconnaissance platforms requiring additional bandwidth.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The third Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) military communications satellite, WGS-3, has entered service for the U.S. Air Force, completing the military\u2019s Block 1 constellation, designed to deliver improved broadband communications to U.S. military forces and their allies around the world. &nbsp;&nbsp; The WGS-3 satellite, built by Boeing and located over the Atlantic Ocean, joins the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-86383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86383"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=86383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/86383\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=86383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=86383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=86383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}