Friday, July 17, 2009

DTN News: Boeing Signs 4-Satellite Contract With Intelsat

DTN News: Boeing Signs 4-Satellite Contract With Intelsat
*1st Order for Boeing 702B Satellite Design
*Source: DTN News / Boeing Company (NSI News Source Info) SEGUNDO, Calif., - July 17, 2009: The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] yesterday announced that Intelsat Ltd., the world's leading provider of fixed satellite services, has selected Boeing to build four telecommunication satellites that will refresh and add new capacity to Intelsat's global satellite fleet. This contract is the first order for Boeing's 702B satellite series. Financial details were not disclosed. Boeing has been chosen to build four 702B satellites for Intelsat Ltd. The contract marks the first order for the Boeing 702B satellite, pictured here in an artist's rendering. The 702B continues the technical and flight heritage of the Boeing 702 family and enables Boeing to expand its product offerings to include flexible, modular satellites that operate in the 6- to 12-kilowatt power range. These satellites will distribute video, network and voice services from Asia and Africa to the Americas and Europe. The 702B, an evolution of the Boeing 702 satellite, offers satellite operators a spacecraft that operates in the medium-level power ranges, with six to 12 kilowatts of onboard power and a more flexible, modular design that maintains the spacecraft's advanced technologies. "We've been developing this variant of our Boeing 702 satellite for more than four years, incorporating low-risk, proven technologies that differentiate the Boeing 702B from our competitors' spacecraft, while providing the flexibility needed to accommodate a large variety of commercial and government satellite requirements," said Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space and Intelligence Systems. "We're extremely proud of the increased value this design can offer our customers. Using our Lean manufacturing processes, this new addition to the Boeing 702 family is also easier to manufacture and assemble, resulting in a high-quality, affordable product." "Intelsat has stringent specifications for satellite procurements. When choosing manufacturers, we examine spacecraft reliability, the use of flight-proven technologies and ability to deliver on time under our proven system test requirements," said Ken Lee, Intelsat senior vice president, Space Systems. "During our nearly five decades of space heritage, Boeing has delivered 33 satellites to Intelsat. We are pleased to continue our relationship with the addition of these four spacecraft." Under the contract, the four Boeing-built geostationary satellites, Intelsat 21, Intelsat 22, and two spacecraft yet to be named, will offer C- and Ku-band capacity optimized to distribute video, network and voice services from Asia and Africa to the Americas and Europe. In April, Intelsat announced its IS-22 satellite will include an Ultra-High Frequency government-hosted payload that will serve the Australian Defence Force. Intelsat is the leading provider of fixed satellite services worldwide. For more than 40 years, Intelsat has been delivering information and entertainment for many of the world's leading media and network companies, multinational corporations, Internet service providers and governmental agencies. Intelsat's satellite, teleport and fiber infrastructure is unmatched in the industry, setting the standard for transmissions of video, data and voice services. From the globalization of content and the proliferation of HD, to the expansion of cellular networks and broadband access, with Intelsat, advanced communications anywhere in the world are closer, by far. A unit of The Boeing Company, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is one of the world's largest space and defense businesses specializing in innovative and capabilities-driven customer solutions, and the world's largest and most versatile manufacturer of military aircraft. Headquartered in St. Louis, Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is a $32 billion business with 70,000 employees worldwide.

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