European satellite company SES has landed a $89 million contract with the US Army to expand its satellite communications capabilities.

SES will help deliver a "Sustainment Tactical Network" (STN) via a Ku-band (12-18GHz) geostationary satellite service, the Army said.

This will underpin long-haul transport and base-support for the Army’s combat service support, as well as other Defence programmes and US agencies.

The Army said “Coupled with the terrestrial-based network linking the entire system, the service ensures cohesive connectivity across teleports and the Global Network Centres (GNC).”

The Global Network Centres supply consistent secrets and unclassified network connections for US Army bases around the world.

Based in Luxembourg, SES has become a trusted SATCOM supplier for the US Army, through its SES Space & Defence subsidiary, and built the previous STN iteration, known as the Wideband Enterprise Satellite Systems COMSATCOM Network (WCN).

Its new STN contract will include the supply of commercial teleport and equipment to support COMSATCOM links in tandem with the Army’s Commercial Satellite Communications Office.

A SATCOM overhaul

In line with a push to build out military SATCOM capabilities following a 2018 Network Modernisation strategy, the US Army has completed a number of network overhaul projects recently, including the overhaul of its network for the BENELUX region in March.

The new SES contract also comes after its involvement in a pilot programme testing the idea of “SATCOM as a Managed Service” (SaaMS) as a way to reduce costs and sustainment challenges for the Army.

Its pilot SaaMS contract was confirmed in July 2024, shortly after it announced a $3.1 billion deal to acquire Luxembourg-American SATCOM company, and SaaMS participant, Intelsat, in a merger that closed in July 2025.

Intelsat’s SaaMS pilot project, which included use of its low earth orbit (LEO) network, was completed in October 2024 and deemed a success, though with no further contracts confirmed so far.

When awarding the contract, the Army said the SaaMS pilot would inform its “2030 network design decisions that may establish managed subscription services that encompass current and emerging SATCOM capabilities being used in private industry.”

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