Posted on 05/11/2006 10:24:27 PM PDT by anymouse
Lockheed Martin Corp. won a $168 million contract from the Vietnamese government to build and launch the country's first telecommunications satellite, state media reported on Friday.
The U.S. firm, which beat Alcatel of France and Japan's Sumitomo Corp. in a tender this week, is scheduled to sign the contract with the state-run Vietnam Posts and Telecommunication Corp on Friday, the Tuoi Tre newspaper reported.
The government has ordered the satellite to be launched on May 23, 2008, three years later than originally planned following extended negotiations on orbital slots.
Industry experts said the satellite, named Vinasat, would help Vietnam save the costs of leasing satellite space and help expand telecoms services and deliver television programs to remote areas.
The satellite is projected to have a 15-year lifespan, up to 30 transponders, each carrying up to six television channels or 500 telephone channels.
space ping.
The (business) world is flat.
hopefully they are not just giving "aid" back to us
Businesses shooting America in the foot... AGAIN!!!!
When does Globalization trump national security???
This is a pretty generic telecom sat. It's pretty much an off-the-shelf item, at least as much as any satellite can be. I really doubt there will be anything resembling advanced military or classified tech in the thing.
By the way, it's better that *we* build it than that someone else does - because then we can put backdoors into the software that let the military turn the thing off when they need to kill someone's communication.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.