[Satellite Today – 1-28-08] Boeing Corp. handed over the first of six Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellites to the U.S. Air Force, Boeing announced Jan. 28.
    The satellite, which will be monitored and controlled by the Air Force’s 3rd Space Operations Squadron at Schriever Air Force Base, Colo., will augment and eventually replace the Defense Satellite Communications System constellation and reduce the U.S. government’s reliance on commercial satellite communications services.
    "WGS-1 represents the first step in our transformational satellite communications journey," Brig. Gen. Susan Mashiko, commander of the Military Satellite Communications Systems Wing at the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center in Los Angeles, said in a statement. "Launching the first WGS has effectively doubled the bandwidth available to warfighters from U.S. government satellites, which means the people in the field who need that vital information will get it much faster, providing a critical advantage in today’s battlefield environment." 
    The second and third WGS Block 1 satellites are scheduled to be launched in 2008.