MOD GETS £2.5BILLION SATELLITE COMMUNICATIONS SYSTEM
24 Oct 2003 12:15 PM
Defence Procurement Minister, Lord Bach, today approved a £2.5
billion agreement to provide Britain's Armed Forces with a new, state
of the art, strategic satellite communications system Skynet 5.
The British-based Paradigm consortium has been awarded a Private
Finance Initiative (PFI) contract for the satellite programme, which
is expected to create or sustain about 1,900 jobs across the UK. It
is the biggest PFI contract yet awarded by the MOD.
Lord Bach said:
"Our existing satellite communications systems proved invaluable
during Operation Telic. Skynet 5 will be a great improvement, and is
an excellent example both of how MOD benefits from PFI and of the
importance we attach to investment in the most advanced
communications for our forces in the field.
"Satellite communications are crucially important on the battlefield;
they give our troops, their commanders and UK headquarters access to
information across robust links.
"The use of PFI means Armed Forces personnel are freed from the
requirement to operate and maintain these systems - Paradigm will do
that job for us. This project remains on target to achieve initial
provision of new services from 2005, is within budget and promises to
deliver exactly the kind of flexibility and responsiveness the Armed
Forces want."
Management of all existing MOD satellite communications systems has
already been successfully handed to Paradigm.
NOTES TO EDITORS
1. Skynet 5 will provide satellite communications (Satcom) services
to the Army, RAF and Royal Navy to meet expected high capacity
strategic communications traffic growth from 2005 to 2018. The
project provides delivery of information services between the UK's
Defence Fixed Network and in-theatre networks and users.
2. Skynet 5 will use at least two new military satellites. Each will
be about the size of a large van and will weigh 2.5-3 tonnes. These
satellites will take over orbital locations currently used by the
Skynet 4 constellation, as it reaches the end of its useful life.
3. Paradigm projects total employment of about 1,900 staff at the
following UK locations in the peak year of 2004: Stevenage, Herts
(Paradigm & EADS Astrium) 442; Portsmouth, Hants (EADS Astrium &
Paradigm) 382; Corsham, Wilts (Paradigm & Serco) 277; Poynton,
Cheshire (EADS Astrium) 80; Leatherhead, Surrey (LogicaCMG) 100;
Newport, South Wales (Cogent) 120; Monkstown, Northern Ireland
(Cogent)16 and other UK locations 517.
4. The project is being managed by the SATCOM Acquisition Team, based
at the Defence Procurement Agency headquarters at Abbey Wood,
Bristol. The team is led by Simon Kershaw. The team additionally
forms part of the Defence Communications Services Agency.
5. The MOD's website can be found at www.mod.uk