The US Space Force’s latest Wideband Global Satellite (WGS-11+) communications satellite design has passed a critical design review (CDR).

Designed and built by Boeing at its El Segundo facility in Los Angeles, the WGS-11+ design will join the existing 10 satellites in the WGS constellation from 2024, and forms the basis for the company’s proposal for the Australian Defence Force’s Project JP9102 sovereign SATCOM requirement, tenders for which were submitted in January.

Australia also has a stake in the existing WGS constellation, having funded WGS-6 which was launched in 2013, and thus giving it access to the rest of the constellation for its military SATCOM requirements.

A 1 February release from Space Force says, “The revolutionary WGS-11+ satellite will have more communications flexibility than the entire existing WGS constellation and will provide Combatant Commanders with twice the mission capability in contested environments.”

It adds that, “Communication channels and terrestrial footprints can be uniquely tailored to warfighter demands. This enables increased mission flexibility and responsiveness with smaller footprints that help protect against jamming.”

LtCol David Edsen, SSC WGS-11+ program manager said, “This key milestone accomplishment represents thousands of hours of work across the government and industry team to solidify the spacecraft design. It marks the beginning of the production phase, and we are excited to see the plan come together so our warfighters and international partners will have this extraordinary capability on orbit as soon as possible.”

In an October 2020 release, Boeing says, “WGS-11+ features a modern digital payload that performs at twice the operational capability of its predecessors, increasing the availability of military-grade communications.”