News Operators Satellite

Luxembourg approves funding to give NATO O3b mPOWER access

The MGS programme is possible through the US and Luxembourg’s 2022 partnership for commercially contracting satellite communications capabilities through the NATO Support and Procurement Agency.

Following Luxembourg parliament’s approval and the official publication of the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) Global Services (MGS) programme valued at €195m over 10 years, the MGS programme will leverage SES’s O3b mPOWER system to provide critical resilient satcom capabilities for Luxembourg, its partners and NATO in the areas of defence and security and disaster recovery, SES announced.

The MGS programme leverages the O3b mPOWER satellite technology developed in Luxembourg by SES to bring better performance for a wide range of sovereign government missions spanning defence, disaster recovery, operations, and community building and welfare for deployed staff.

In late 2022, Luxembourg and the US 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.

Steve Collar, CEO of SES, said: “We welcome this important step in the execution of Luxembourg Government’s defence space strategy that will greatly enhance the national Defence’s satcom capabilities’ resilience. O3b mPOWER contributes to building secure and sovereign networks as well as supporting critical missions of disaster recovery and response, and is fundamental for high-performance, resilient communications for Europe and NATO.”