Iridium Communications (NASDAQ: IRDM) has been awarded a $400 million contract to provide satellite airtime services to the Defense Department for an additional five years.
The Enhanced Mobile Satellite Services contract with the Defense Information Systems Agency includes distributed tactical communications system services for department subscribers, Iridium said Monday.
EMSS is intended to help government agencies leverage Iridium NEXT, the company’s $3 billion next-generation satellite constellation program scheduled for a 2015 launch, at fixed cost.
“We expect the DoD’s needs for satellite communication services will continue to grow over the next five to 10 years, ” said Scott Scheimreif, executive vice president for government programs at Iridium.
The EMSS contract’s fixed-price rate for fiscal year 2014 is $64 million, followed by $72 million for fiscal 2015 and $88 million for the remaining three years.
