On Wednesday, August 7, 2013, an unmanned Delta 4 rocket was launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The said rocket was carrying a communications satellite which will be used the U.S military, its allies including Australia that funded the spacecraft and launch services.
Equipped with the sixth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS), the Delta rocket lifted off at 8:29 p.m. EDT and ascended over the Atlantic Ocean, lightened by the sun, as it travels into space.
The WGS is utilized to transmit images, video conferences, television broadcasts and other high-bandwidth data to and from aircraft, ground forces, ships, operation centers, the White House, the U.S. Department of State and selected partners around the world.
Dave Madden, director of military satellite communications at the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center told Reuters in a conference call, “These satellites provide tremendous operational flexibility. A Navy ship can be operating in X-band and communicate with someone else operating with a Ka-band terminal, and vice-versa. The satellite does that conversion for them. That way we can cross-talk across the services and across capabilities."
Australia, in a very rare partnering arrangement with the U.S. Air Force, paid $707 million for the construction of the satellite and for the United Launch Alliance, a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing to put it into orbit. The money also covers some operational expenses.
In return, Australia can utilize a percentage of the WGS network until 2029.
"This sharing of resources is very consistent with what the Department of Defense wants to do to form stronger coalitions with our allied partnerships, to share costs of operations," Madden told Reuters. "It really helps all parties."
Canada, New Zealand, Denmark, Netherlands and Luxemburg have the same agreement with the Air Force. They will be banding together to finance the ninth spacecraft.
Madden added that the U.S. military is looking for one or more partners to sponsor follow-on satellites.
