Japan sends two intelligence satellites into orbit

On Sunday, Japan launched two intelligence satellites amid increasing concerns that North Korea might conduct further long-range rocket tests and nuclear tests. Officials said that the two satellites -- an experimental optical probe and an operational radar satellite -- were successfully sent into orbit aboard the native H2-A rocket.

Back in 1998, Japan officially began its intelligence satellite program after North Korea blasted a long-range missile over Japanese mainland. Just last month, Korea launched a rocket which sent a supposed satellite into orbit, but the U.S and others condemned it as a cover for its development of missile technology.

Japan’s latest launch was planned long before the current growing tension with North Korea, and this new intelligence satellite emphasizes the country’s wariness and suspicion of its neighbor’s abilities and intentions.

The radar satellite recently launched by Japan is capable of providing data through cloud cover and at night, and is intended to broaden the country’s constellation network. The optical probe, meanwhile, will be used to test future technology and improvements to empower Japan’s surveillance capabilities.

Aside from expanding its surveillance capabilities, Japan also collaborated with the United States in establishing a missile defense shield due to North Korea’s threat.

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Russia deploys three military satellites

Russia has launched three new military satellites aboard a Rokot rocket that took off from the Plesetsk cosmodrome in Northern Russia on Tuesday, Russian Aerospace Defense Forces spokesperson Alexei Zolotukhin said in a statement. This is the country’s first launch for the year and Rokot’s second since February 2011 when a technical glitch resulted in placing a Geo-IK-2 satellite into an incorrect orbit.

The much-awaited launch, which had been originally scheduled for early December, was postponed due to a malfunction in the rocket’s Briz booster built by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center.

The Rokot launcher, weighing 107 tons, is a derivative of the Russian RS-18 (SS-19 Stiletto) intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM). The carrier rocket has two original ICBM lower stages and an upper stage used for commercial payloads. It is designed to take satellites weighing less than two tons into low near-Earth orbits.

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ISRO’s launch of SARAL, Canadian defense satellites postponed to February

The joint launch of Indian-French satellite SARAL and various Canadian defense satellites has been suspended by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) once again. In a statement released by ISRO on January 4, the space agency said that the initially planned launch on January 12 was moved to mid-February because of a thermo-vacuum testing issue that ensued with the SARAL satellite, which is the fundamental payload of the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) C20 launch.

Meanwhile, the Canadian satellites are part of a supplementary payload that includes the NEOSSat space telescope, which functions as a seeker of near-Earth asteroids, and the dedicated military satellite Sapphire, which will upgrade the Canadian Department of National Defense’s (DND) surveillance capabilities.

The Canadian built CanX-3b (TUGSAT-1) and CanX-3a (also known as UniBRITE) nanosatellites are also going to be launched on the PSLV-C20 rocket. Both nanosatellites were created by the University of Toronto Institute for Aerospace Studies Space Flight Laboratory.

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Lockheed Martin secures AEHF production contract worth $2 billion

Lockheed Martin confirmed that it has won a $2 billion production contract to build the fifth and sixth Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) communications satellites for the United States Air Force.

According to a statement by Mark Calassa, the Vice President of Protected Communications of Lockheed Martin, the AEHF program has become a critical part of the military space architecture of the United States, especially in recent times when global security relies more and more on protected and resilient satellite communications.

VP Calassa explained that strategic and tactical users across the world need the kind of secure satellite communications that AEHF provides. He believes that the Company's production contract with the USAF confirms the US government's confidence in Lockheed Martin's capability to deliver on the new order.

The AEHF network is a significant improvement over the older Milstar system when it comes to secure military communications. It will ensure safe lines of communication between the president and senior military leaders during nuclear attacks and similarly extreme situations. The first two satellites were placed in orbit in 2010 and 2012, and they are being used by the United States, Canada, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.

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Lockheed Martin settles $2 billion contract with U.S Air Force to manufacture AEHF satellites

Multibillion American company Lockheed Martin has now finalized a deal to produce two Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellites for the United States Air Force, an agreement that was anticipated to generate a total of $2 billion for the company.

Under the terms of the contract, Lockheed Martin will create the fifth and sixth AEHF satellites for the U.S Air Force.

“As protected and resilient satellite communications become increasingly vital to global security, the AEHF program has developed into an indispensable element of the nation’s military space architecture,” Lockheed Martin Vice President of Protected Communications Mark Calassa said in a statement. “This production contract for the fifth and sixth AEHF satellites affirms the government’s confidence in our ability to deliver these spacecraft affordably and efficiently to meet the burgeoning demand from strategic and tactical users worldwide.”

The first two AEHF satellites were sent into their designated orbits in 2010 and 2012, respectively. The network is said to be shared by four countries: Canada, the Netherlands, United States and United Kingdom. These cutting-edge satellites aim to enhance secure military communications, assuring safe lines of communication between the president and top military leaders in extreme situations, like a nuclear attack. The AEHF satellites represent a major upgrade on the Milstar system, which has been in place since 1994.

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