The Ekran-M satellite was successfully separated from the rocket’s Breeze M upper stage into geostationary orbit about 7 hours after lift off.

The Proton M Breeze M is the upgraded version of Khrunichev’s Proton K launch vehicle, featuring more powerful engines, structural enhancements to support the increased lift capability and a state-of-the-art digital guidance system. The Proton M Breeze M was teamed with the flight-tested Breeze M upper stage, also built by Khrunichev. Together the upgrades provide enhanced performance, greater payload volume and increased mission design flexibility.

At the time of the launch of the first Proton M Breeze M, ILS was a joint venture of Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services and Lockheed Khrunichev Energia International.  Today, ILS majority stakeholder is Khrunichev, and has been serving global customers for over 21 years with 92 ILS Proton flights to date.