Boeing to Deliver WGS-12 Satellite Under $440M Space Force Contract

The U.S. Space Force has awarded Boeing a $439.6 million contract to build the 12th Wideband Global SATCOM satellite for the Space Systems Command.

The satellite will be part of the WGS constellation, designed to provide resilient, high-capacity satellite communications to the U.S. military and its allies. WGS delivers reliable connectivity to warfighters through the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service ground system and provides anti-jam communications using the U.S. military’s Protected Tactical Waveform capability.

For WGS-12, Boeing will include its Protected Tactical Satcom Prototype to provide a second layer of protection against adversarial jamming capabilities.

The WGS satellite is built using additive manufacturing, Agile techniques, rapid prototyping principles and other advanced methodologies, Boeing said Tuesday.

The Department of the Air Force said in a September certification letter sent to Congress that it needs WGS-12 because it provides SATCOM capabilities that no other commercial satellite can deliver. The DAF sent the letter to Congress after Rep. Mike Rogers, R-Ala., chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, released his Fiscal Year 2024 National Defense Authorization Act proposal that prohibits the procurement of WGS-12 until the department provides a certification.

In 2022, Boeing announced that it was building an upgraded version of the WGS-11 satellite designed to deliver a 100 percent performance boost.