Seventh WGS satellite in orbit
Boeing's seventh Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite has entered orbit and will soon provide 17% more bandwidth to the US military and allied users of the system, the company announced on 23 July.
A payload upgrade in the WGS-7 satellite will enable this boost in secure communications bandwidth from its predecessors. The satellite sent its first signals successfully soon after it was launched on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket.
The next three satellites will also feature Boeing's upgraded digital payload design that doubles payload bandwidth and improves connectivity overall. The eighth satellite, WGS-8, is set to launch in late 2016. A total of ten WGS satellites will be delivered by Boeing to the US Air Force.
Dan Hart, vice president, government space systems, Boeing, said: 'Every WGS that we deliver increases the ability of US and allied forces to reliably transmit vital information.
'By utilising commercial processes, we are able to offer greater capacity at a lower spacecraft cost, resulting in more than $150 million in savings for WGS-7 through WGS-10.'
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