[Satellite TODAY 08-25-10] Boeing has received a contract from Intelsat to provide a second ultra-high frequency (UHF) hosted payload on the IS-27 satellite, Boeing announced Aug. 24.
    The payload will offer 20 25-KHz UHF channels capable of serving the U.S. government sector and other international Intelsat General clients. The second payload will be identical to the UHF payload for the Australian Defense Force that will be hosted on the IS-22 satellite and launched in 2012.
    Financial details of the contract were not disclosed.
    The IS-27 spacecraft is one of four commercial communications satellites that Intelsat ordered from Boeing last year. Boeing is building the satellites based on its Boeing 702MP platform.
Slated for launch in December 2012, the satellite is planned to operate over the Atlantic Ocean region at 55 degrees west longitude and will provide simultaneous operation of 39 C- and Ku-band transponders to deliver optimized video, network and voice services to the Americas and Europe. The UHF hosted payloads will provide capability to complement the existing UHF Follow-On and future Multi-User Objective System (MUOS) satellites. IS-27 will replace Intelsat 805 in the Atlantic Ocean Region.