The contract with Lockheed Martin and Space Communications will also include ground station equipment. The satellite, N-SAT-110, will use a A2100 LockMart bus, and N-SAT-110 will have 24 Ku-band transponders with 36 MHz bandwidth and will positioned at 110 degrees east where it will provide coverage to all of Japan.

Mike Henshaw, president of Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space, and Teruhiko Ena, president of SCC, signed the contract with Takuya Yoshida, president of Japan Satellite Systems Inc. (JSAT), participating as a witness to the event.

"This is a critical win for Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space, as it solidifies our presence in the key commercial telecommunications marketplace," said Henshaw. "This contract reintroduces Lockheed Martin to the satellite communications market in Japan and we're looking forward to a long and mutually beneficial relationship."

Teruhiko Ena, president of SCC said "Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space offered us an accelerated production schedule and the best value proposal."

The satellite will be launched by ArianeSpace on a vehicle yet to be determined during the third quarter of 2000. The Satellite Control Facility will give SCC and JSAT the ability to fly the new spacecraft and provide critical flight data for telemetry, tracking and control functions.

Arianespace chairman, Mr. Jean-Marie Luton, said N-SAT-110 is the 14th satellite entrusted by Japan to Arianespace. With this contract, the ninth of 1998, ArianeSpace has a launch backlog of 38 satellites, he added.

"This second contract of the year with Japan comes after the 40th straight successful Ariane 4 flight and the perfect final qualification flight of Ariane 5. We thank both our customers for their renewed trust. Since 1986 Arianespace has signed contracts to launch 14 out of Japan's 20 commercial satellites," said Luton.

In keeping with Mitsubishi Electric's plans to develop a commercial satellite business by 2005, the company will supply some of the components for the payload, which has experience building critical components of previous generations of SCC's Superbird satellites.

SCC is part of the Mitsubishi Group of companies and is expected to place orders for complete Mitsubishi-built satellites within five years. However, any final decision will depend upon Mitsubishi's ability to reduce costs.

The N-SAT-110 satellite will be built in the LockMart's Commercial Satellite Center in Sunnyvale, CA, the center's co-located assembly and test facilities are said to have dramatically reduce the production cycle and consequent costs of LockMart's satellites.

About the A2100

The A2100's geosynchronous spacecraft is designed to meet a wide range of telecommunications needs ranging from fixed satellite services in hybrid payload configurations to high power direct broadcast services using the Ku-band frequency spectrum. Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space is under contract for 13 additional A2100 spacecraft from commercial satellite operators around the world.

The A2100's modular design features a major reduction in parts count, simplifying construction, increasing on-orbit reliability and reducing weight and cost. The A2100 bus is produced entirely from composite materials, which makes it stronger and lighter than other bus designs and in turn reduces launch costs. The composite structure also protects the payload from thermal distortions.

ArianeSpace

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