[Satellite News 01-03-12] The Pentagon has awarded a significant satellite ground infrastructure contract to aerospace, defense and information solutions provider ITT Exelis, which will provide mission support to its Wideband Global Satellite (WGS) operations centers and management sites around the world.

   The $121 million Wideband Satcom Operations and Technical Support (WSOTS) contract was announced Jan. 3 and awarded by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the Army Forces Strategic Command at the Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado. Exelis will continue to serve the military customers as a provider of C4ISR (command, control, communications, computers, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance) and technical services.

   Exelis also will provide operations and maintenance, life-cycle engineering, on-site technical assistance, equipment installation, depot-level repair, logistics, cybersecurity, and training support. The cost-plus-fixed-fee contract terms include the base year and six, one-year option periods. In addition to the United States, ITT Exelis’ work will be performed in multiple countries, including Germany, Japan and Australia.

   “Our global workforce has strong experience and significant expertise in mission-critical communications support and related services and we are very pleased to be selected to continue our satcom services for some of our nation’s most important defense and space exploration communications systems,” ITT Exelis Mission Systems Division President Ken Hunzeker said in a statement.

   The U.S. Department of Defense has been busy with several WGS development efforts coming to fruition. The U.S. Air Force’s fourth WGS spacecraft (WGS-4) is slated to launch Jan. 19 on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta 4 Medium rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Engineers finished installing the spacecraft in the payload fairing of the Delta 4 rocket at Astrotech Space Operations. WGS-4 aims to provide secure military communications with U.S. troops and remote-control unmanned drones used for intelligence gathering and surveillance.

   Just last month, satellite manufacturer Boeing secured a $296 million contract option to produce WGS-8. The contract option brought the total cost of WGS-8 to $354 million. The total includes long-lead parts that were ordered in August for $58 million in addition to the latest $296 million authorization to proceed with full construction, launch and on-orbit activation. The Air Force purchase comes as part of the WGS Block 2 follow-on contract, which covers options for WGS-7, WGS-8 and WGS-9. Boeing will construct the satellites at its El Segundo, Calif. facility.

   The WGS Block 2 series aims to add performance upgrades to the Pentagon network, such as a switchable radio frequency bypass for the transmission of airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance imagery at higher data rates. “New airborne surveillance platforms are driving a need for higher data rates, and the upgrades on WGS-4 are designed specifically to meet these emerging requirements,” Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems Vice President and General Manager Craig Cooning said in a statement.

   The first three WGS satellites, also built by Boeing, are already in GEO orbit and operational. The first WGS spacecraft was launched in October 2007. The second and third WGS satellites were launched April 2009 and December 2009, respectively.

   The U.S. military also has been waiting for developments in a potential WGS partnership with Canada. In October, the Canadian government gave its Defense Minister Peter MacKay permission to spend up to $477 million to ensure Canada’s involvement in the WGS satellite program.

   While details on the negotiations have yet to be disclosed, Canada’s conservative political party has publicly endorsed the partnership. Its political opponents, however, have criticized the WGS program as being plagued with problems, including delays that have slowed the deployment of new satellites. Critics also note that the initial cost estimate was $1.3 billion for six satellites. The United States has invested $4.9 billion on three satellites, with the entire nine-satellite network expected to cost $10 billion.