WASHINGTON — Boeing expects to get a contract in the approaching months to construct a brand new communications satellite for the U.S. military, funded by a $442 million congressional earmark.
The satellite, to be named WGS-12, will probably be the twelfth of the Wideband Global Satcom geostationary constellation that gives communications services to the USA and allies.
Although congressional appropriators inserted funds within the 2023 defense budget specifically for a wideband satellite, the House Armed Services Committee in its version of the 2024 National Defense Authorization Act said it could block the procurement of WGS-12 until the Department of the Air Force confirmed that the identical service couldn’t be performed by business satellites.
That confirmation got here in a letter from the Department of the Air Force, asserting that WGS-12 meets specific needs that can’t be met by business alternatives, the Space Systems Command said Sept. 21.
“As directed in H.R. 2670, the FY24 National Defense Authorization Act, the Department of the Air Force has provided the 4 congressional defense committees with the WGS-12 certification letter that certified the requirement couldn’t be met by business,” the command said in an announcement to
Boeing’s space sector leader Kay Sears said the corporate provided the Air Force data that the service used for the certification. The corporate’s evaluation, she said, showed that WGS communications are far more difficult to jam than business services currently available.
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“We did a side-by-side evaluation by level of jamming,” Sears said in an interview with .
Sears in November was named vp and general manager of Boeing’s Space, Intelligence & Weapon Systems division. She oversees the corporate’s civil, military and business space operations.
Expanding Boeing’s footprint in military satellite programs is a top priority for Sears, including continued production of WGS.
The WGS-11 in production today “shouldn’t be your grandfather’s WGS,” she said.
Unlike the previous 10 WGS satellites that were launched between 2007 and 2019, the new edition has twice the communications capability, Sears said, and features agile beam technology to avoid jamming.
“It’s all about the way you shape the beam right into a very tiny footprint,” Sears said. “So if you’ve jammers nearby, you principally null them out. And we all know that China and Russia have 1000’s of jammers in the assorted frequencies that each military and business systems operate.”
WGS-11 and 12 also carry a payload called PTS (Protected Tactical Satcom) that runs a military Protected Tactical Waveform designed to thwart jamming attacks.
“Going forward in protected comms, it’s all concerning the jamming threat,” Sears said.
What needs to be the best mix of economic and military satcom systems has been a years-long debate throughout the Air Force and the Space Force, and the reply is all the time that they need each, said Sears.
The Air Force’s certification of WGS-12 is a significant boost for this system, she said, and is nice news for allied nations that depend on WGS services.
Congressional appropriators have strongly backed this system, adding greater than $1 billion for WGS-11 and 12 over the past five years. Committees have argued that DoD has a shortage of cyber secure satellite-based communication services and will proceed to modernize the wideband constellation.
Boeing projects WGS-11 will take 48 months to finish and WGS-12 about 39 months.
The sooner satellites have reached or exceeded their projected service life, Sears said, and the Space Force needs options to replenish the constellation.
“We now have a WGS in production,” Sears said. “I feel it’s critical that we keep that production line going, and we integrate the allies’ requirements for protected communications.”
WGS partner nations include Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Latest Zealand, and Norway. The U.S. also has a separate bilateral agreement with Australia.
Boeing calls the new edition of WGS the Protected Wideband Satellite (PWS) — a design based on the corporate’s 702X business bus integrated with the PTS payload, Sears added. “One option for the constellation is to switch the older WGS satellites with our PWS which is designed for the present and future threat.”
The Space Force is also considering a Northrop Grumman offering as a possible follow-on to WGS. Northrop Grumman designed a competing PTS payload to be hosted on a business ESPAStar bus.
Military payloads on business buses
As Boeing makes the case that DoD can buy more WGS or PWS satellites, it is also supporting efforts by satellite operator SES to develop into a business partner within the military’s broader satcom architecture. The Space Force is seeking to create a hybrid architecture with links to business and military satellites.
Boeing’s business satellite business builds SES’ o3B mPower broadband satellites deployed in medium Earth orbit.
“o3B has been very energetic attempting to get DoD contracts,” Sears said. “The business community may be very excited about leveraging the military requirements into their business.”
Boeing is backing the concept of hosting its PTS payloads on o3B satellites in medium Earth orbit to expand the military’s architecture, said Sears. “We could construct that into their system as we construct PTS payloads for WGS.”
With regard to low Earth orbit satellites, Boeing expects its subsidiary Millenium Space Systems — which focuses on small satellites — to proceed to compete for military business, including the Space Development Agency’s planned mesh network.
Boeing is especially excited about the missile-defense and missile-tracking portion of SDA’s constellation, said Sears. The corporate is eyeing a possibility recently announced by SDA to supply classified missile-tracking satellites with advanced high-precision sensors. “You will notice us play in that. That’s more of the main target for us.”