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Polish Military Leases Sicral 1B Capacity

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.

Peter B. de Selding

Peter B. de Selding was the Paris bureau chief for SpaceNews.