Air Force plans launch of WGS-4

The Air Force plans to launch the fourth of 10 planned Wideband Global Satcom satellites on Jan. 19 from Cape Canaveral during a 93-minute launch window opening at 7:39 p.m., eastern time.

The number of planned WGS systems satellites has doubled over the past decade, with the military originally planning for five. The Air Force announced Jan. 18 a $377 million contract modification with WGS prime contractor Boeing to manufacture the ninth WGS.

The ninth satellite is being paid for by an international consortium of Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand and the United States. The United States already entered in to a cost-sharing agreement with Australia for a previous WGS.

The fourth WGS being prepped for the Jan. 19 launch atop a Delta IV Medium+ rocket is the first of the WGS Block II satellites, which Air Force officials say provides three times the bandwidth of Block I satellites. WGS operates in the X and military Ka bands; it replaces the Defense Satellite Communications System constellation, of which eight satellites are currently in operation.

Military tactical demand for bandwidth has been spurred in great measure by video transmissions from unmanned aerial vehicles. Each WGS is controlled independently of others by the Army in service of regional voice, video and high-data rate intelligence information, said Dave Madden, director for the Military Satellite Communications Wing at the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles. Madden spoke to reporters during a Jan. 10 press call.

"We don't see, in the future, any reduction in wideband capability needed for the warfighter," he said.

WGS-4 should be operational within "probably a couple of months," Madden said. WGS-5 is set for launch in January 2013 and WGS-6 for June or July 2013, he added.

For more:
- go to a United Launch Alliance website where the planned WGS launch will be webcast, starting on Jan. 19, 7:17 p.m.

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