US Air Force Selects Harris Corporation for
Hosted Payload Solutions Contract
The U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems
Center has selected Harris Corporation
(NYSE:HRS) for a 5-year, $495 million
multi-vendor IDIQ contract for the Hosted
Payload Solutions (HoPS) program. The program
will leverage commercial spacecraft to speed the
implementation and reduce the cost of future
government space applications.
Harris will match government payloads with commercial
spacecraft and provide integration, testing,
infrastructure and operations services to accommodate,
launch and operate the payloads.
Initial potential HoPS candidates include NASA, NOAA,
the Air Force Military Satellite Communications Systems
Directorate, and the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Potential missions cover a broad spectrum of
applications, including scientific research, search and
rescue, communications and others.
“HoPS is an ambitious undertaking that further
validates the benefits of putting government payloads
into space on a commercial platform,” said Bill Gattle,
vice president and general manager, National Programs,
Harris Government Communications Systems. “The Harris
team brings broad experience in hosted payloads
augmented by highly reliable, global ground teleports
and communications networking infrastructure.”
The Harris HoPS team consists of more than a dozen
companies recognized as leaders and innovators in space,
including: ABS, AsiaSat, Airbus Defence and Space,
Globalstar, GreenDart, Iridium Communications Inc.,
Millennium Engineering and Integration, O3b Networks,
ORBCOMM, Sierra Nevada Corporation, Surrey Satellite
Technology, Telesat and Thales Alenia Space.
