3 Wideband Gapfiller Satellites to Get Pedigree Reviews
Related Stories: Americas - USA, Boeing, Contracts - Modifications, Satellites & Sensors, Testing & Evaluation
Boeing Satellite Systems in Los Angeles, CA received a $7.6 million firm-fixed-price contract modification to add Pedigree Reviews of Wideband Gapfiller Satellites (WGS) F1, F2 and F3. The Pedigree Review rigorously audits all critical components and subsystems, and is designed to help ensure that the satellite will work fully in the “one chance to get it right” environment that characterizes space-based equipment. Boeing will assemble, analyze and present WGS component data on 6,204 items to the Government Independent Pedigree Review team during an assessment to the Space and Missile Systems Center Commander, with a launch approval recommendation. This work will be complete in September 2006.
The Headquarters Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles Air Force Base, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-00-C-0011/P00112). As a previous DID report has noted, the WGS program has encountered design, integration and manufacturing problems. This is largely attributable to less-than-anticipated demand for the commercial satellite, which reduced the program’s expected ability to leverage expertise from the commercial sector. The WGS program was also mentioned, with specifics, in the Pentagon’s latest quarterly SAR report on milestoned or slipping programs.
June 1/06 update: The first of three Wideband Gapfiller Satellites (WGS) successfully completes key dynamic environmental tests to confirm the spacecraft’s structural design and mechanical integrity. See release.
