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

Boeing and the U.S. Space Force revealed Wednesday that the Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS)-11+ communications satellite successfully completed the Preliminary Design Review (PDR). This was the first all-digital PDR, which concluded on July 1. Boeing is now ready to proceed to the final design phase, with production beginning next year at the company’s El Segundo factory. Delivery is scheduled for 2024.

WGS-11+ features a digital payload that performs at twice the operational capability of its predecessors. The current WGS constellation, consisting of 10 satellites, serves the U.S. military’s global communications system. United Launch Alliance (ULA) launched WGS-10 earlier this year in March.

Users include all U.S. military services, the White House Communications Agency, the U.S. State Department, and international partners. In addition to U.S. military forces, the WGS constellation provides service to international partners including Australia, Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, New Zealand, the Netherlands, the Czech Republic, and Norway.

“Completing this engineering design review is a key milestone and brings us one step closer to delivering this groundbreaking satellite to the warfighter in record time, significantly improving capacity and coverage to our soldiers, sailors, airmen, Marines and allies,” said Col. John Dukes, chief of the geosynchronous/polar division at Space and Missile Systems Center Production Corps.