U.S. Department of Defense Awards Low Earth Orbit IDIQ Contract to SES Space & Defense
SES Space & Defense, a wholly-owned subsidiary of SES, has been awarded a five-year, Indefinite Delivery Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract for proliferated Low Earth Orbit (pLEO) satellite-based services (SBS).
The IDIQ vehicle was awarded through the Defense Information Systems Agency’s (DISA) Defense Information Technology Contracting Organization (DITCO) by the U.S. Space Force. Under the multi-award contract, valued at up to USD 900 million, the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD), federal agencies, and international coalition partners can acquire fully managed low-latency LEO SBS from 16 selected awardees, including SES Space & Defense.
As the industry’s leading COMSATCOM operator and integrator, SES Space & Defense possesses distinct advantages in providing the U.S. DoD with value-added solutions at the tactical edge. The company leverages SES’s global fleet of more than 70 Geostationary Earth Orbit (GEO) and Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) satellites, coupled with LEO partnerships, to create a fully managed and integrated terrestrial and space network.
Satellite services delivered via multiple orbits enable a comprehensive range of new connectivity capabilities for the U.S. DoD. Non-geostationary satellite orbits (NGSO) - LEO and MEO - provide low-latency and flexible, fiber-like connectivity ideal for high-bandwidth, real-time applications, while GEO satellites enhance global resiliency and redundancy enabling a broader scope of government use cases.
SES Space & Defense also offers enterprise management and control (EM&C) capabilities, facilitating a seamless, integrated network of COMSATCOM and MILSATCOM systems and extensive experience in building and operating global networks. This enables DoD users to enjoy resilient, redundant, and secure multi-orbit, multi-band network solutions.
“The pLEO IDIQ is the first multiple award contract to deliver pLEO COMSATCOM services to the government and military,” said SES Space & Defense President and CEO, David Fields. “The contract structure is part of the U.S. Space Force’s new approach to acquiring SATCOM. These awards are foundational for COMSATCOM integration and proliferation into new waveforms and orbits enabling connectivity and communication at the tactical edge.”