Segments
Operation and usage of the system is broken into 3 segments.
The end users of the communication services provided by the WGS are described by the DOD as the terminal segment. Users include the Australian Defense Force and U.S. Army ground mobile terminals, U.S. Navy ships and submarines, national command authorities for the nuclear forces, and various national security/allied national forces. Additionally the Air Force Satellite Control Network will also use the WGS in a similar manner as the DSCS III constellation is used to route ATM packets through the DISA "cloud" to establish command and control streams with various satellite constellations. One of the emerging applications is SATCOM-ON-The-Move which is now being extensively used on the military tactical vehicles for Blue Force Tracking and C3 missions.
The satellite operators in charge of commanding and monitoring the satellite's bus and payload systems as well as managing the network operating over the satellite are the control segment. Like the DSCS constellation that WGS will replace, spacecraft bus will be commanded by the 3rd Space Operations Squadron of Schriever AFB, Colorado. Payload commanding and network control will be handled by the Army 53rd Signal Battalion headquartered at nearby Peterson AFB, Colorado with subordinate elements A Co. at Fort Detrick, Maryland, B Co. at Fort Meade, Maryland, E Co. at Fort Buckner, Okinawa Japan, C Co. Landstuhl Germany, and, D Co. Wahiawa, Hawaii.
The primary contractor for the satellites themselves is Boeing Satellite Development Center, which is building them around the Boeing 702 satellite platform. Originally five satellites were planned. On October 3, 2007, Australia's Department of Defense announced that the country would fund a sixth satellite in the constellation. Once in their orbits at an altitude of 22,300 mi (35,900 km), each will weigh approximately 7,600 lb (3,400 kg). The program intends to use both the Delta IV and the Atlas V as launch vehicles. The Air Force Space Command estimates each satellite will cost approximately US$300 million.
The first three WGS satellites form Block I of the space segment. WGS satellites 4, 5, and 6 make up Block II.
Read more about this topic: Wideband Global SATCOM System
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