McLEAN, Va., July 24, 2000 – International Launch Services (ILS) announced today a total of over $1 billion (US) in new launch services business from orders taken year-to-date. The new business includes 13 firm launch orders with 17 options for a mix of the full complement of ILS launch products including Proton, Proton M, Atlas IIAS, Atlas III and Atlas V.
"After a 100% mission success operational record with Atlas and Proton so far this year, we are very pleased to announce such a significant amount of new business," said Dr. Mark J. Albrecht, ILS President. "It is a testament to the confidence placed in the technical, operational and business management expertise of ILS and our Lockheed Martin and Khrunichev partners."
The new business represents specific missions with end users including named payloads and launch dates. Customers include Astrolink, ICO-Teledesic Global Limited, GE Americom. ILS' overall backlog is currently worth over $3 billion.
"The significant amount of new business that we have obtained this year is a result of ILS' ability to focus on our customers and to be responsive to their needs with innovative product offerings and competitive terms. The result is that we are more closely aligned with our customers' business objectives and they have responded with confidence and trust in our products and services," Albrecht added.
The new orders come on the heels of an extraordinary run of Proton success in both the commercial and Russian government arena as well as the first flight of the new Breeze M upper stage built by Krunichev State Research and Production Space Center. Proton has now launched eight missions successfully so far this year, including an unprecedented four missions in 19 days.
The first half of the year also saw the successful inaugural flight of the Atlas III carrying the Eutelsat W4 spacecraft to orbit. This was the fifth successful maiden flight of an Atlas launcher, all with commercial customers and operational payloads. Additionally, the successful Atlas III with its new Russian-built RD-180 engine and the single engine Centaur upper stage proves out up to 80% of the technological risk associated with the new Atlas V family of vehicles. Atlas has launched six successful missions year-to-date and has a record of 52 straight successes.
Headquartered in McLean, VA USA, International Launch Services is a joint venture stock company established in 1995 to jointly market the Russian-built Proton and the Lockheed Martin-built Atlas to the worldwide satellite launch market. The company currently offers the broadest range of launcher products in the world along with the highest reliability in the industry. ILS is owned by Lockheed Martin Commercial Launch Services ( LMCLS) and the Lockheed Khrunichev Energia International (LKEI) joint venture.