The dedicated U.S. DoD Iridium gateway serves as the uplink and downlink point for the DoD’s EMSS communications capabilities through the Iridium network. Photo: Iridium

Iridium Communications was awarded a five year, Indefinite Delivery/Indefinite Quantity (IDIQ) contract from the Defense Information Systems Agency on behalf of the U.S. Air Force Space Command (AFSpC) with potential revenues up to $76 million. Known as the Gateway Evolution Contract (GEC), this contract aims to enable ongoing innovation and enhancements for the U.S. government’s dedicated Iridium gateway.

The GEC is one of a trio of Iridium government gateway related contracts, which also includes the Gateway Maintenance and Support Service contract (GMSS), which is responsible for ensuring day-to-day operational performance of the facility, and the Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services Airtime Contract (EMSS), which provides voice, text, and data services to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) and associated federal government partners through the government gateway. The previous iteration of the GEC was known as the Gateway Modernization Efforts contract (GME) and enabled the U.S. government to make the investments necessary to take advantage of Iridium’s now recently completed satellite constellation upgrade campaign, known as Iridium NEXT.

“With the completion of Iridium NEXT, new services and capabilities are constantly being designed and developed by Iridium and our ecosystem of partners,” said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president, government programs, Iridium. “The GEC allows the U.S. Government to upgrade their gateway as they see fit, in order to take advantage of these new capabilities, including those yet to be invented. It is yet another example of a truly successful public/private partnership between Iridium and the Department of Defense as we collectively explore new ways to take advantage of our unique low-earth-orbiting satellite network.”