Lockheed Martin Corp’s Space & Strategic Missiles Sector and the Intersputnik Intergovernmental Organization have joined forces and yesterday in London launched a new company to supply worldwide satellite products and services and take full advantage of a market which they claim is growing at a rate of 15% per year. Lockheed Martin Intersputnik Ltd will be based in London and have a marketing office in Moscow. It plans to launch four satellites by the end of the year 2000. The first to be deployed will be Lockheed Martin’s A2100 on a proton launch vehicle in late 1998. The company said this venture would expand to a global service provider that will generate between $300m – $500m in annual revenues by 2001. Dr Mel Brashears, president and chief operating officer of the Space & Strategic Missiles Sector, said. The combination of our two organizations results in a new and highly competitive satellite services supplier. Gennady Kudryavstev, director general of Intersputnik, added: We will pursue excellence and grow through cooperation, continuous improvement and innovation. Initially, the company will supply broadcast, fixed telecommunications and Very Small Aperture Terminal, VSAT, services to customers in Eastern Europe, South Asia, Africa and the Commonwealth of Independent States. At a later stage, services will also include direct-to-home video and audio and mobile services. Lockheed Martin, headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland, develops, designs, manufactures and supports a variety of advanced technology systems for domestic and international military and civil markets. Products include space systems, space launch vehicles, telecommunications and strategic and defensive missile systems. Intersputnik is an intergovernmental organization set up 25 years ago and has 22 member countries. It operates a satellite communication system providing international, regional and domestic communications around the world.
