Twelve years ago, the British government revolutionized the process of purchasing military satellite telecommunications by outsourcing it all to the private sector. Now Britain appears about to return to conventional procurement for its follow-on satellites as a way to put off a longer-term decision, British government and industry officials said. The government's decision, now being refined, appears to be leaning toward a more-limited commitment to gapfiller satellites to succeed the current Skynet 5 X- and UHF-band satellites. Under a contract that many thought would set a precedent for other governments but never did, the British Defence Ministry in 2003 contracted with what is now Airbus Defence and Space for the Skynet 5 system of nuclear-hardened, encrypted military satellites.
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