Artistic Rendition: SES-15.

[SatNews] Global satellite solutions provider SES Government Solutions (SES GS) announced today that it has been awarded a 14-year contract by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems to host a payload on board SES-15. With the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) as the U.S. Government customer, the Wide Area Augmentation Systems (WAAS) hosted payload will serve as an air navigation aid to augment the Global Positioning Systems (GPS), with the goal of improving its accuracy, integrity and availability.

“We are honored to have been chosen by Raytheon and the FAA to host this payload on our satellite,” said President and CEO of SES GS, Pete Hoene. “This is a great example of how the commercial satellite industry can provide the US Government timely and affordable access to space.”

The contract includes construction of the WAAS payload, launch on the SES-15 satellite and 11 years of on-orbit operations with options to extend on an annual basis. The satellite has a life expectancy of 15 years. Launching in 2017, SES-15 will be located at 129 degrees West.