NSPA contracts SES’s O3b mPOWER satellite service for secure communications services

This is the first contract within the Global Commercially Contracted SATCOM Support Partnership (GCC SATCOM SP) signed in October 2022 between NSPA, Luxembourg and the United States, establishing a new era of space cooperation within NATO.

GCC SATCOM SP provides a framework for NATO Allies and NATO Partners to participate in multi-national, multi-year space-related activities acquisitions. This approach to SATCOM acquisitions will leverage the proven Support Partnerships framework that generates synergies and economies of scale through multinational contracting processes.

Through MGS, SES will deliver secure high-performance low-latency satellite services for government entities in the United States and Luxembourg, enabling their missions globally and across all domains. These high-performance connectivity solutions will also enhance Allies’ disaster response capabilities and bolster their overall resiliency.

Established under the GCC SATCOM SP, the MGS programme was originally founded by Luxembourg and the United States is open to NATO Allies and partners. MGS is an outline agreement over three years with two additional one-year options.

The O3b mPOWER system, leveraged for MGS, is the second-generation MEO constellation. To date, the fleet consists of the first six O3b mPOWER satellites successfully launched and operating since April 2024. Featuring extensive global ground infrastructure and open architecture features, the system allows for new groundbreaking levels of interoperability, flexibility and government control, to include secure communications and networking solutions for tactical units.

MGS participating Nations can request managed service packages, O3b mPOWER terminals, and lifecycle services and even build their own network of Sovereign Gateways and bespoke services. MGS uses as baseline 10 Gbps of O3b mPOWER capacity, which can be flexibly exploited.

Source: NSPA.