The Unanticipated Consequences of Expanding WGS

摘要

The Department of Defense's ex pansion of the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) program, and its drive to add new international partners to the global constellation, has resulted in the U.S. government's becoming a front line competitor in the commercial wide band satellite market. Not only does the program appear focused on replacing as much commercial capacity as possible, the government is becoming the de facto service provider to a host of high-value customers heretofore dependent on reli able, cost-effective satellite communica tion services from commercial operators.