Airbus Defence and Space has announced during Satellite 2015 being held in Washington DC the forthcoming move of its Skynet 5A satellite.
The move of Skynet 5A will enable delivery of protected and secure satcom services in the new coverage footprint from mid-2015.
Airbus Defence and Space owns and operates the hardened Skynet X-band satellite constellation of 8 satellites and the ground network to provide all Beyond Line of Sight (BLOS) communications to the UK Ministry of Defence.
The contract also allows other NATO and Allied governments to use the Skynet system to augment their existing services.
Airbus Defence and Space also leases the X-band hosted payload on Telesat’s Anik G1 satellite, which covers the Americas and parts of the Pacific including Hawaii and Easter Island.
Skynet 5A will move from its current 6 degrees East position (over Europe, the Middle East and Africa) to its new 97 degrees East location, a journey of approximately 67,000 km, making Skynet X-band secure satellite communication services available for the first time over the eastern Asia-Pacific region including Australia.
UK Defence Minister, Philip Dunne, said: "Today's announcement that Airbus will be moving one of the UK's Skynet 5 satellites to the eastern Asia-Pacific region is clear proof of how much our relationships with our international allies matter. This is the first time that we have had a secure communications capability in the region, and shows the depth of our commitment to our allies and partners in the region, including Malaysia, in humanitarian and peacekeeping operations."
Airbus Defence and Space is moving Skynet 5A to meet increased demand from government customers for high throughput secure X-band communications in the region, while also boosting global coverage by extending the new coverage from 178 West to 165 East.