The Pentagon, headquarters for the U.S. Department of Defense. Photo: DOD.

The U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) has awarded SES a $24.8 million multi-year contract, under which the company will provide the United States Africa Command (U.S. AFRICOM) with high throughput, low-latency managed satellite communications services in the areas of their operations.

SES will use its O3B fleet in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) to deliver secure connectivity to end users and those who support them. The managed services include low-latency high throughput capacity, gateway services, monitoring and control, satellite terminals, field service support, as well as terrestrial backhaul. The high throughput capacity is delivered through an entire 432 MHz fully steerable MEO beam.

According to Peter Hoene, president and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SES Government Solutions, the solution provides connectivity on par with fiber speeds.