International Launch Services (ILS), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin [NYSE: LMT] and two Russian companies, has signed a contract with Malaysia’s Binariang Satellite Systems to launch the MEASAT-3 communications satellite in 2005. The launch will cost $48.7 million, according to the Malaysian company.

The $132-million satellite, ordered from Boeing [NYSE: BA] in March, will be launched on a Proton Breeze M rocket from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan between May and November 2005, the company said. The satellite will be placed into the 91.5 degrees East longitude orbital slot to serve Malaysia, Southeast and Central Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Australia.