The US Air Force has announced the companies it wishes to work with under a firm-fixed price contract to allow its and other US Government hosted payloads to be applied to commercial satellites. The Hosted Payload Solutions (HoPs) programme will involve both actual procurements and feasibility/technical studies to allow such payloads to be used with financial contracts being awarded accordingly.
The companies eligible for such awards have been named as: Astrium (now Airbus DS) Services Government, Harris, Millennium Engineering & Integration Company, Space Systems/Loral, Surrey Satellite Technology, Orbital Sciences, Boeing, Exoterra Resources, Lockheed Martin, Merging Excellence and Innovation Tech, ViviSat, Intelsat General, SES Government Solutions and Eutelsat America.