Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) Global Services programme will leverage SES’s O3b mPOWER system to provide sovereign solutions for defence and disaster recovery missions and support strategic partnerships between Luxembourg and the U.S. 

The Government of Luxembourg unveiled its intent to leverage SES’s high-performance, second-generation Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) system – O3b mPOWER – as a critical resilient satcom infrastructure for Luxembourg, its partners and NATO in the areas of defence and security, disaster recovery and more, SES announced today.

In a press conference, Luxembourg Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence, François Bausch said that the Luxembourg Government is proud to be utilising highly innovative satellite technology that was developed in the country by its leading space player, SES. The programme – MEO Global Services (MGS) – valued at €195 million over 10 years will authorise, when passed by Luxembourg parliament, the acquisition and operation of O3b mPOWER services. In late 2022, Luxembourg and the U.S. entered into a support partnership with the aim of commercially contracting satellite communications capabilities through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency (NSPA). The MGS programme will be realised through this partnership.

The O3b mPOWER MEO system that SES began launching in 2022 brings unrivalled performance for a wide range of sovereign government missions spanning defence, disaster recovery, operations, and community building and welfare for deployed staff. With its unprecedented levels of flexibility, the unique system provides guaranteed performance and uncontended connectivity services for dedicated, protected, carrier-grade data, unlocking full access to real-time information, high-resolution images and video, cloud applications and secure networks.

The open architecture and unique security features of the O3b mPOWER system enables governments to operate sovereign gateways and networks on a global basis. It can also be easily integrated into existing governments’ satcom capabilities, permitting multi-orbit resiliency to NATO and allies’ systems and elevating them to the next level of performance and security.

“This ambitious new project carried out through the NSPA will consolidate Luxembourg’s position as a reliable partner in space. The satellite communication capabilities of SES’s O3b mPOWER will reinforce Euro-Atlantic joint deterrence and defence. The aim is to support our Allies, the EU Member States and the international organisations of which Luxembourg is a member,” said Minister Bausch. “We will increase the resilience, flexibility and connectivity of our satcom capabilities while creating synergies through cooperation with nations who share our values.”

“We are proud to support the Luxembourg Government’s space defence strategy and leverage the unique space-based capabilities of SES to enable greater cooperation between Luxembourg and its partners,” said Steve Collar, CEO of SES. “O3b mPOWER has been designed with the unique needs of governments firmly in mind and brings unprecedented levels of guaranteed performance to support defence, security and sovereign networks as well as disaster recovery and response for a safer and more secure Europe and beyond.”