U.S. Air Force Wideband Global Satcom communications satellite. Photo: Boeing

The U.S. Space Command accepted the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS)-10 satellite into the operational constellation and will be transitioning users to utilize the bandwidth provided by this new satellite. Boeing completed verification of the satellite’s performance and handed control authority to the U.S. Air Force on July 10. Following handover, Space and Missile Systems Center’s WGS program office, in collaboration with the U.S. Army and U.S. Navy, completed on-orbit testing of WGS-10 and then recommended the satellite for acceptance into the operational constellation. The joint team conducted numerous payload characterization and verification activities to optimize the end-to-end system’s performance.

Additionally, the wideband community took advantage of a special testing period to validate new and emerging anti-jam capabilities as well as techniques and procedures that will be incorporated into the entire WGS constellation.

“The WGS system now provides Navy ships worldwide 20 times the data throughput that ships received before the advent of the system. Computer applications that previously could not operate over wideband satcom are now enhancing warfighting capability on a daily basis, creating a Navy today that is digitally connected,” said Dr. Kurt Fiscko, technical director of the Navy’s Communications and Global Positioning System Navigation Program Office.