SAN DIEGO, March 25, 1996 – A Lockheed Martin Atlas IIAS rocket has been selected by Japan Satellite Systems, Inc. (JSAT) to launch the JCSAT-4 communications satellite. The launch is scheduled for January 1997 from Cape Canaveral Air Station Complex 36B.

“This is an important piece of repeat business for Atlas and Lockheed Martin,” said Michael R. Wash, president-Atlas Division, International Launch Services (ILS). “Atlas provided excellent performance for the launch of JCSAT-3 last summer, and we expect to equal that feat with this new mission.”

Atlas IIAS is the highest-performing Atlas configuration presently being launched by
Lockheed Martin for the worldwide satellite communications industry. Atlas IIAS is capable of lifting up to 8,150 pounds to geosynchronous transfer orbit. The JCSAT-4 mission brings the Atlas backlog to 20 launch commitments.

JCSAT-4 is a Hughes HS 601 design. This multi-purpose satellite will carry both Ku-band and C-band transponders. It will provide telecommunications and television services to Japan, all of Asia, Hawaii and Australia and New Zealand.

Japan Satellite Systems, Inc. (JSAT), headquartered in Tokyo, Japan, was established in 1993 as a result of the merger of Japan Communications Satellite Company, Inc. and Satellite Japan Corporation. JSAT aims to provide telecommunications services that are consistent with the emerging age of globalization and multimedia.

Atlas and the Centaur upper stage are built by Lockheed Martin Astronautics at facilities in Denver, CO and San Diego, CA. Astronautics is one of four operating elements of the corporation’s Space & Strategic Missiles Sector headquartered in Bethesda, MD. Astronautics designs, develops, tests and manufactures a variety of advanced technology systems for space and defense.

International Launch Services (ILS) is a company established in 1995 as a result of the merger of Lockheed and Martin Marietta. ILS is owned jointly by Lockheed Martin’s Commercial Launch Services and the LKEI joint venture with Khrunichev Enterprise and RSC Energia in Russia. ILS markets the Atlas and Proton launch vehicles, offering a complete launch services package comprising the launch vehicle, launch operations, integration of the spacecraft, dedicated mission management and validation of spacecraft separation and orbit.