SES Government Solutions has been rewarded with an over $8 million firm-fixed-priced Pathfinder contract for commercial satellite communications by the U.S. Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC). The contract involves Ku-band communications for U.S. Africa Command. Pathfinder is a procurement method which makes a comparison with shorter Operations and Maintenance (O&M) contracts. And the Department of Defense has been trialing that for years of agreements. 

   Tip Osterthaler, the president and CEO of SES GS says, Because of these efforts, critical commercial communication satellite capability in an area of high demand is secured for the remaining life of the satellite with the cost benefits offered by this alternative to one-year contracting.