Boeing has received a $439.6 million contract to build the 12th Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) communications satellite for the U.S. Space Force's Space Systems Command. The WGS constellation delivers vital high-capacity, secure, and resilient communications capabilities to the U.S. military and its allies.

The WGS's responsive, steerable, high-capacity beams provide assured connectivity via the Protected Tactical Enterprise Service (PTES) ground system and enhanced anti-jam communications by combining the U.S. military's jam-resistant Protected Tactical Waveform with antenna nulling in the Ka-band. The anti-jam capability of Boeing's new Protected Tactical Satcom Prototype payload will also be integrated on WGS-12, providing a second Protected Wideband Satellite to the U.S. military, and expanding anti-jam tactical communications capacity for U.S. warfighters and allies to operate in multiple contested theaters.

"We are proud to be a mission partner and are ready to continue providing protected tactical communications to the warfighter," said Michelle Parker, vice president of Space Mission Systems. "Like WGS-11, the 12th WGS satellite will provide critical capabilities to our military with over 1,500 individually steerable, shapeable beams in the Ka-band, ensuring tactical forces have resilient communications."

Leveraging additive manufacturing, rapid prototyping, agile development, and other advanced techniques, Boeing's WGS-12 communications satellite offers significant growth in system performance. Boeing is currently building WGS-11 at its El Segundo, Calif., site.

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