Arianespace is getting set to launch satellites for key government and defence programs in the United Kingdom and Mexico. The Skynet 5D (United Kingdom) and MEXSAT Bicentenario (Mexico) satellites are scheduled to be launched on an Ariane 5 rocket on December 19.
 

Arianespace has already had six successful Ariane 5 launches so far this year. In 2012, Arianespace reached the key milestone of having over 50 successful launches of the Ariane 5 in a row. It achieved this with the successful launches of the Intelsat-20 (Intelsat) and Hylas-2 (Avanti Communications) satellites in August.
 

Mexsat Bicentenario is based on Orbital’s GEOStar-2 platform, will generate approximately 3.5 kilowatts of payload power and carry 12 active extended Ku-band and 12 active extended C-band transponders. The spacecraft will provide communications services to Mexico and its surrounding waters from the 114.9 degrees West Longitude orbital slot.
Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems is the overall integrator of the MEXSAT communications network, which will comprise three satellites, two ground telemetry and control sites, associated network operations systems, and reference user terminals. As prime contractor for MEXSAT, Boeing is providing two larger satellites in the series that are scheduled for launch in 2013 and 2014. The Secretaria de Comunicaciones y Transportes of Mexico will take over day-to-day operations of the satellites as they are launched and undergo on-orbit testing, verification and positioning.
 

The Skynet 5D satellite is the latest satellite to be launched as part of the U.K MoD’s milsatcoms system, which is now in its fifth generation. The Skynet system, the satellites and ground segment, was designed and built by Astrium. Since 2003, the Skynet 5 program, managed by Paradigm, has provided U.K. MoD with a suite of highly robust, reliable and secure military communications services, supporting operations in Iraq, Afghanistan and the Balkans. The Skynet 5 satellites have some of the highest powered X-band transponders in orbit, a highly flexible uplink beam configuration, coupled with a anti-jamming antenna to ensure that the constellation is extremely effective against hostile or non-hostile interference. The program commenced by using the legacy Skynet 4 satellites and then augmenting them with a fully refurbished ground network before launching the Skynet 5A, 5B, and 5C satellites between 2007 and 2008.