Informational Satellite Systems Director Nikolai Testoyedov said Express-AM5 is the first satellite that will be launched next year. “We will be ready to launch [Express-AM5] in the second quarter of 2013. The Express-AM6 satellite will also be ready at that time,” he said in a statement.

   Testoyedov added that Russian space agency Roskosmos has planned to upgrade its Proton rocket for the upcoming launches. Once launched, Express-AM5 and Express-AM6 aim to provide domestic digital radio and TV broadcasting services. Russia will launch three more Express satellites in 2013, two of which will be launched in a bundle.