Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has successfully completed the delivery of the payloads for the first four Full Operational Capability (FOC) satellites of the European Galileo GNSS system to prime contractor OHB System AG.

The payloads were shipped to OHB in Bremen, Germany for integration of the payload to platform and the start of the satellite integration and test activities.

The delivery of these four navigation payloads is part of an on-going contract, awarded to the OHB-SSTL consortium in 2010 for the first 14 Galileo FOC satellites.

SSTL is continuing work on the payloads for the next ten FOC satellites, with the next five payloads already in production at its advanced technical facility, The Kepler Building. In addition to these 14, SSTL and prime contractor OHB were awarded the contract for a further eight Galileo satellites in 2012.

Dr. Matt Perkins, CEO of SSTL commented: "The SSTL team has worked tirelessly to achieve this delivery success and we are on target to deliver the next 18 payloads for the Galileo FOC constellation.

This is an exciting step towards completion of the Galileo constellation as these satellites will be the first two FOC launch loads placed into orbit by Soyuz in the deployment of operational Galileo navigation services."

In keeping with the rapid delivery schedule, the fourth SSTL payload has been delivered to OHB for integration with the platform, in parallel to the commencement of activities on the first fully integrated FOC satellite at the European Space Research and Technology Centre (ESTEC) Test Centre, where environmental testing will take place.

Galileo is Europe's own Global Navigation Satellite System (GNSS), providing real-time positioning, navigation and timing services with unrivalled accuracy and integrity. It will be interoperable with the American GPS system and Russia's GLONASS system.

The Full Operational Capability phase of the Galileo programme is managed and fully funded by the European Union. The Commission and ESA have signed a delegation agreement by which ESA acts as design and procurement agent on behalf of the Commission.