Consortium set to build eight additional satellites for Galileo

A consortium led by OHB System and Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL) will build a further eight satellites for the European Union’s Galileo satellite navigation programme.

The contract, announced today by European Commission vice-president Antonio Tajani and to be carried out under the supervision of the European Space Agency, will see SSTL continuing its role as payload prime, assembling, integrating and testing the navigation payloads in Britain.

OHB System, as the prime contractor, will build the eight satellite platforms and execute the final integration of all the satellites in Germany.

The SSTL-OHB partnership is already building 14 satellites for the Galileo programme. 



Matt Perkins, SSTL group chief executive officer, said: ‘SSTL has played a key role in the development of the Galileo programme for nine years and we have the commitment, experience and track record to deliver this substantial contract.’ 



Galileo is Europe’s Global Navigation Satellite System, providing real-time positioning, navigation and timing services. It will be interoperable with the US GPS system and Russia’s GLONASS system.