Boeing yesterday announced a $439.6 million contract to build the twelfth Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) communications satellite for U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command. The WGS constellation delivers high-capacity, secure and resilient communications capabilities to the U.S. military and its allies.
The constellation's responsive and steerable beams provide connectivity via the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) ground system and enhanced anti-jam communications by combining the U.S. military's jam-resistant Protected Tactical Waveform with antenna nulling in the Ka band.
Boeing's WGS-12 will offer significant performance improvements due to the use of advanced manufacturing techniques, like additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping and agile development.
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The anti-jam capability of Boeing's new Protected Tactical Satcom Prototype payload will also be integrated on WGS-12, providing a second Protected Wideband Satellite to the U.S. military, and expanding anti-jam tactical communications capacity for U.S. warfighters and allies to operate in multiple contested theaters.
According to Michelle Parker, Boeing's VP of Space Mission Systems, WGS-12 will provide the military with more than 1,500 individually steerable, shapeable beams in the Ka band.
Boeing is currently building WGS-11 at its El Segundo, Calif., site.
