e: The Space and Missile Systems Center at Los Angeles AFB, Calif., reported Jan. 21 that the second Wideband Global SATCOM spacecraft was delivered last week to Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., and then on to the Astrotech Space Facility in Titusville, Fla., for processing in preparation for its launch March 9. The first operational WGS began service in April 2008. “The WGS-1 satellite capabilities substantially exceeded the warfighter’s expectations,” according to SMC. WGS-2 and WGS-3, also slated for launch this year, will complete the Block 1 version of the satellites. Boeing is under contract to build three more WGS spacecraft in Block 2, with launches beginning in 2011. Australia has come on board the program, providing funding for WGS-6 in exchange for a portion of the WGS communications throughput. (Los Angeles report)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth this week released strategies meant to focus the Pentagon’s “alphabet soup” of innovation organizations and proliferate artificial intelligence—moves that experts say could provide the structure needed to make the military’s efforts to integrate and field new technology more effective.
