WGS Satellites: Space Force Plans $946M Sole-Source Boeing Deal
The Space Force plans to give Boeing up to $945.9 million to sustain its WGS and UFO satellites, saying Boeing won’t sell the data rights to compete it.
The U.S. Space Force intends to hand Boeing a contract worth up to $945.9 million to keep two of its military communications satellite fleets running, without a competition. Space Systems Command posted the plan in a presolicitation notice on SAM.gov, the federal contracting site, on 27 October. The reason it gives is blunt: the government does not own the technical data needed to let anyone else do the work, and Boeing “has repeatedly declined the Government’s requests to sell the necessary data rights.”
The planned deal, called Wideband and Narrowband Global SATCOM Sustainment (WNGSS), would be an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract. That means a ceiling, not money paid up front. According to the notice, it has a five-year base ordering period worth about $480.6 million and one ten-year option worth about $465.3 million, so it could run 15 years if the option is used. Interested firms have until 17 November to respond. SpaceNews first reported the plan on 28 October.
What WGS does
Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) is “the backbone of the U.S. military’s Wideband satellite communications capability,” according to the Space Force fact sheet. The satellites sit in geosynchronous orbit and relay high-capacity Ka-band and X-band traffic for U.S. government agencies, the Defense Department, international partners and NATO. The fact sheet says tactical forces rely on WGS to connect individual users to the Defense Information Systems Network, the Pentagon’s global network.
Ten WGS satellites were launched between October 2007 and March 2019, the fact sheet lists. Air & Space Forces Magazine says the system was built to augment and then replace the older Defense Satellite Communications System, with each satellite offering roughly ten times the capability of a DSCS satellite. Australia joined as a funding partner in 2013, and Canada, Denmark, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and New Zealand partnered on satellites seven through ten, the magazine reports. Poland and Japan signed on in 2024.
On the ground, the fact sheet says thousands of fixed, transportable, vehicle, aircraft and ship terminals use the system, with dishes from 0.4 meters to 18.4 meters across. The 4th Space Operations Squadron at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado, flies the satellite buses, while the 53rd Space Operations Squadron manages the communications payloads through five operations centers.
Key specs and figures
| Item | Figure | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Builder | Boeing, on its 702 satellite bus | Air & Space Forces Magazine; SAM.gov notice |
| Orbit | Geosynchronous | Space Force fact sheet |
| Bands | Ka-band and X-band | Space Force fact sheet |
| Satellites launched | 10, from Oct. 2007 to March 2019 | Space Force fact sheet |
| Launch weight | About 13,000 lb | Air & Space Forces Magazine |
| Design life | 14 years | Air & Space Forces Magazine |
| Solar power | 9,934 watts | Air & Space Forces Magazine |
| Planned sustainment ceiling | $945.9M ($480.6M base, $465.3M option) | SAM.gov notice |
What the contract covers
The notice says the work spans more than WGS. Boeing would also sustain the Ultra High Frequency Follow-On (UFO) satellites, an older narrowband fleet it also built, and parts of the Global SATCOM Configuration and Control Element ground system. Tasks listed include round-the-clock anomaly analysis and recovery, factory engineering support, telemetry trending, maneuver planning, collision avoidance and end-of-life disposal. Boeing would also maintain flight software, a satellite simulator and operational databases, and help move new spacecraft into service, naming WGS-11, WGS-12 and a Protected Tactical SATCOM Prototype (PTS-P) payload.
The Space Force invoked the legal exception for cases where only one responsible source can do the job. The data Boeing holds, the notice says, was developed at private expense and includes design documents for its 702HP and 702MP satellite platforms, simulators and ground-control software. Without it, no other firm could do the work “without introducing substantial duplication of cost” and risk to satellites already in orbit, the command wrote. GovConWire reported that market research confirmed Boeing as the only contractor able to do the work without a break in service.
New satellites still waiting
The next satellite, WGS-11+, is a modernized design that Air & Space Forces Magazine says will offer roughly twice the capability of earlier WGS spacecraft and carry a dedicated Protected Tactical SATCOM payload for anti-jam service. GovConWire reports that Boeing received $605 million in April 2019 to build it. It is to be the first WGS satellite launched on United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan rocket.
That pairing has slowed it down. Breaking Defense reported in March that WGS-11 had been slated to lift off by the end of that month, but a solid rocket motor anomaly on a February Vulcan flight grounded the rocket, and Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess named WGS-11+ among the missions that could be affected. Peter’s World found no announced new launch date in the sources we reviewed. Further out, GovConWire says the Pentagon and 10 partner nations amended the program’s memorandum of understanding in September, securing $302 million toward WGS-12, projected to launch no earlier than 2028.
Why it matters
Analysis, based on the sources cited in this article:
The headline number is a ceiling spread over as long as 15 years, so it is not a sign of runaway cost on its own. The more important point is the reason the Space Force gave. A service saying in public that a contractor has refused to sell data rights is unusual, and it shows how decisions made when a system is first bought can lock in one supplier for decades of upkeep. Here, the government says it cannot compete the support work for a fleet whose first satellite flew in 2007.
WGS also matters more as space becomes contested. The Space Force is spending heavily to jam enemy satellite links, as we covered in our report on its counter-communications jammers, and to watch other nations’ satellites with programs such as GHOST-R. Its own wideband backbone depends on aging satellites, a delayed replacement and a single company’s software. For the wider picture, see our Space War theater.
What to watch: whether any company challenges the sole-source plan before 17 November; when the Space Force signs the award; a new launch date for WGS-11+ once Vulcan returns to flight; and whether future satellite contracts require the government to own the data from the start.
Sources
- Space Systems Command, Presolicitation notice 26-18: Wideband and Narrowband Global SATCOM Sustainment, SAM.gov, 27 October 2026.
- GovConWire, Space Force Cites Boeing’s Refusal to Sell Data Rights in $946M Sole-Source Plan, 28 October 2026.
- U.S. Space Force, Wideband Global SATCOM Satellite fact sheet, current as of February 2023.
- Air & Space Forces Magazine, Wideband Global SATCOM, weapons almanac entry.
- Breaking Defense, Vulcan grounding could impact multiple Space Force, NRO satellite launches, 26 March 2026.
