SES and the Luxembourg Government to Develop and Launch New Defence Satellite for GovSat

GovSat-2 is aimed at meeting growing demand for highly secure, flexible MILSATCOM services

SES and the Luxembourg Government today announced their plan for development of a second satellite for GovSat (LuxGovSat S.A.), the public-private partnership and 50/50 joint venture between SES and the Luxembourg Government that provides secure, reliable and accessible satellite communication services for governments.

GovSat-2 will be positioned over the European satellite arc. It will join GovSat-1 in augmenting reliable connectivity services for government customers over the region. The satellite will be built by Thales Alenia Space on its Spacebus 4000B2 platform.

Since launching in 2018, the joint venture’s first defence satellite, GovSat-1, operated by GovSat from a secure missions operations centre in Luxembourg, has supported the Luxembourg Directorate of Defence, EU and NATO nations, the U.S. Department of Defense, and other governmental users. It has been providing connectivity for theatres of operation, interconnection of institutional as well as defence sites, border control, Intelligence, Surveillance & Reconnaissance, and various other types of communications for air, land and maritime missions.

The state-of-the-art GovSat-2 satellite will extend the coverage and scale of GovSat, and is designed to address the needs of defence users at the highest Security and Service Assurance Level. The satellite will add new ultra-high frequency (UHF) channels, X- and military Ka-band, and will include other security features such as dedicated hardening, an advanced anti-jamming system, and embedded geolocation.

The investment in GovSat-2 is in line with SES's stated financial policy criteria, and also in line with prior combined company CAPEX guidance. The satellite will be co-funded by SES and the Luxembourg Government, subject to approval of the corresponding draft law by Parliament.

“The procurement of GovSat-2 underscores the success of the GovSat public-private partnership to provide Luxembourg, our allies and partners with secure military satellite communications that supplement their national systems and support a wide range of critical military, defence and civilian security applications,” said Yuriko Backes, Minister of Defence of Luxembourg. “With GovSat-2, Luxembourg will once again demonstrate its significant impact in the field of Space.”

“With geopolitical shifts and an increased need for scalable national security and defence capabilities, we are seeing growing demand for secure, reliable geostationary (GEO) connectivity with comprehensive coverage across Europe, the Middle East and Africa as well as the Atlantic and Indian Oceans, the Mediterranean and the Baltic Seas,” said Adel Al-Saleh, CEO of SES. “As governments across Europe look to bolster their sovereign satellite communications for defence and intelligence needs, GovSat-2 gives GovSat additional MILSATCOM capacity to address this strategic area of growth.”

“GovSat-2 reflects the growing demand in military satcom, allowing our GovSat public-private venture to scale and broaden the services we have been providing since 2018. For this brand new satellite, we are adding more frequency bands along with innovative functionalities for it to be well-positioned to address the future connectivity challenges the NATO and partner nations face,” said Patrick Biewer, CEO of GovSat.

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At SES, we believe that space has the power to make a difference. That’s why we design space solutions that help governments protect, businesses grow, and people stay connected—no matter where they are. With integrated multi-orbit satellites and our global terrestrial network, we deliver resilient, seamless connectivity and the highest quality video content to those shaping what’s next. Following our Intelsat acquisition, we now offer more than 100 years of combined global industry leadership—backed by a track record of bringing innovation “firsts” to market. As a trusted partner to customers and the global space ecosystem, SES is driving impact that goes far beyond coverage.

GovSat-2. Copyright: Thales Alenia Space