From Wine to Pineapples: Delta Company Takes on New Satellite Role

Abstract : 2011 has yet to be determined as a vintage year for California wine, but for the Soldiers of Delta Company, 53rd Signal Battalion, it will go down as a banner year. Members of Delta have departed their humble, but outdated, satellite control facility after more than 20 years of being located in one of California's most acclaimed wine regions just north of the town of Paso Robles. In its place they have settled for a more tropical setting next to pineapple fields on the island of Oahu, Hawaii. Delta Company has provided network and payload control for the Defense Satellite Communication System at Camp Roberts, Calif., since the late 1980s. The company, which consists of nearly 55 Soldiers and 10 Civilians, to include government and contractor employees, in recent years has taken on a new mission: managing the new Wideband Global Satellites. The reason behind the relocation to Hawaii lies with the particular wideband global satellite that services the Pacific Rim and puts Delta Company directly underneath its orbital footprint. Wahiawa's geographical location makes it the only Wideband Satellite Communications Operations Center capable of accessing the test slot for new WGS units. This means Delta Company will do the payload control validation on all future WGS launches and testing of satellite control hardware and software.