PONTE VEDRA, Fla. — The Polish Ministry of Defense will lease UHF-band capacity aboard Italy’s Sicral 1B military telecommunications satellite for more than 10 years under a contract valued at 30 million euros ($43.1 million) with Telespazio of Rome, which owns rights to a portion of the satellite, Telespazio announced Aug. 6.
Sicral 1B, launched in April into the 11.8 degrees east geostationary orbital slot, is two-thirds owned by the Italian Defense Ministry. A portion of the capacity has been reserved for use by the NATO alliance under a long-term NATO contract that includes use of France’s Syracuse 3 and Britain’s Skynet 5 satellites.
Telespazio co-funded development of Sicral 2 and has rights to about one-third of the satellite’s capacity. Sicral 1B includes one EHF, three UHF and five SHF transponders.
