US MRO specialist Stevens Aerospace and Defense Systems (Stevens) has entered into a partnership with Gogo Business Aviation and Peregrine, recently acquired by Metrea Aerospace, to develop an STC for Gogo’s Galileo HDX global high-speed internet system for King Air 200 and 300 series aircraft.

Gogo Galileo with the HDX antenna is expected to deliver speeds of up to 60Mbps down and 11Mbps up ‘globally’ backed by Eutelsat-OneWeb's Low-Earth-Orbit (LEO) enterprise-grade satellite network.

Gogo Galileo can also be added to any existing Gogo Avance system (L3, L5, SCS) with minimal disruption to the aircraft for operators who need connectivity when flying outside of North American ground coverage (over the Gulf of Mexico for example). Additionally, Gogo Galileo will offer Avance platform capabilities not currently available on its legacy air-to-ground systems (ATG 1000, 2000, 4000, 5000) for a much better and more effective customer in-flight experience, such as Over-the-Air (OTA) software updates and remote diagnostics. High-speed connectivity will be available while the aircraft is still on the ground anywhere in the world as opposed to waiting until the aircraft is in the air as with their current non-satellite systems.

“As the leading King Air MRO, we are excited to bring this new technology from a long-standing aviation connectivity provider to our King Air customers around the world,” says Rob Reed, Stevens’ director of aircraft modification programmes.

The initial STC will include the Beechcraft King Air 200 and 300 series aircraft models equipped with various avionics suite configurations. The Stevens STC will also include wi-fi activation to complete the package for ease of installation and lower installation costs. Finally, Stevens is expecting this FAA-approved STC, which will include EASA and TCAA validations in Europe and Canada respectively, to be available for installation in Q4 2025 and is pre-booking installation slots now.