Airbus Defence and Space will move its Skynet 5A satellite to provide satellite communication over the eastern Asia-Pacific region, including Australia. The company announced the planned move on 16 March.
The Skynet 5A satellite will be moved from its current position over Europe, the Middle East and Africa to a position 67,000km east, providing secure satellite communication services in the new coverage footprint from mid-2015.
This move is in response to increased demand from government customers for high throughput secure X-band communications in the region. It will also boost global coverage by extending the new coverage from 178 West to 165 East longitudes.
Evert Dudok, head of communications, intelligence and security, Airbus Defence and Space, said: 'The move of Skynet 5A will enhance MILSATCOM capabilities where our customers need it, offering unique solutions for international security and humanitarian missions, and other coalition operations.'
Airbus Defence and Space operates the Skynet X-band military satellite communications system, which consists of eight satellites, and the ground network to provide all Beyond Line-of-Sight communications to the UK Ministry of Defence. NATO and its allied governments can also use the Skynet system under the contract to augment their existing services.
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