[Satellite Today 04-05-09] Boeing shipped the second Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite, WGS-2, from its El Segundo, Calif., facility to Cape Canaveral Air Station in Florida, where it will be readied for a March launch. Boeing announced Feb. 4.
    WGS-2 is the second of six advanced Boeing 702 satellites being built for the U.S. Air Force to expand communications for military operations worldwide.
    “The shipment of WGS-2 represents another key milestone toward expanding the delivery of critical information to our warfighters via satellite,” Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems, said in a statement. “With the launch of the next WGS satellite, the Air Force will nearly double the amount of valuable satcom communications bandwidth available.”
    WGS satellites, which can operate in X-band and Ka-band frequencies, are augmenting, and will eventually replace, the Defense Satellite Communication System and the Global Broadcast Service function provided by UHF follow-on satellites.