Boeing’s seventh Wideband Global SATCOM (WGS) satellite is now in orbit and will soon provide the U.S. and allied militaries with 17 percent more secure communications bandwidth than its predecessors thanks to a payload upgrade.

“Every WGS that we deliver increases the ability of U.S. and allied forces to reliably transmit vital information,” said Dan Hart, Boeing vice president, Government Space Systems. “By utilizing commercial processes, we are able to offer greater capacity at a lower spacecraft cost, resulting in more than $150 million in savings for WGS-7 through WGS-10.”

WGS-7 sent its first successful signals soon after being launched Wednesday on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV rocket. The next three WGS satellites will incorporate Boeing’s advanced digital payload design, which doubles payload bandwidth and further improves connectivity. WGS-8 is scheduled for launch in late 2016. Boeing will deliver a total of 10 WGS satellites to the U.S. Air Force.

Boeing press release