HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS COMPANY
Communications and Customer Relations
P.O. Box 92919 (S10/S323)
Los Angeles, CA 90009
(310) 364-6363
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HUGHES' NEWEST UHF SATELLITE TO LAUNCH GBS CAPABILITY (photo)

LOS ANGELES, March 10, 1998 -- Hughes Space and Communications Company will launch the U.S. Navy's eighth ultra-high frequency (UHF) Follow-On satellite, designated UHF F8, from Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Monday, March 16.

The eighty-minute launch window opens at 4:22 p.m. EST (1:22 p.m. PST and 9:22 p.m. GMT). Hughes contracted with Lockheed Martin for launch onboard an Atlas II rocket.

With a mission life requirement of 10 years, UHF F8 is a commercial-based HS 601 spacecraft and will be the first in the fleet to carry Global Broadcast Service (GBS). GBS uses high-power satellite transponders to provide high-speed wideband, simplex broadcast signals, which result in greatly increased satellite communications capability to the warfighter. The GBS payload utilizes four 130-watt, 24 megabits-per-second (Mbps) military Ka-band transponders operating in the 30/20 GHz frequency. The information is sent to small mobile and affordable tactical terminals. When the Navy's third GBS satellite, UHF F10, is launched in 1999, the DoD will have near-global GBS coverage. UHF F8, F9, and F10 will carry the GBS payload, in addition to the existing UHF and EHF payloads. UHF F8 will be stationed at 172 degrees East longitude over the Pacific Ocean.

The UHF Follow-On satellites have replaced the Fleet Satellite Communications (FLTSATCOM) and the Hughes-built Leasat spacecraft, which had supported the Navy's global communications network serving ships at sea and a variety of other U.S. military fixed and mobile terminals.

Hughes won the initial UHF Follow-On contract in July 1988 for one satellite, with options for nine more, all of which had been exercised by January 1994. In March 1996, the Navy ordered the special GBS payloads for F8, F9, and F10, bringing the total contract value to $1.85 billion.

Hughes Space and Communications Company, a unit of Hughes Electronics Corporation, is the world's largest manufacturer of geostationary commercial communications satellites, and is also a major supplier of spacecraft for communications and space exploration to the U.S. government. The earnings of Hughes Electronics are used to calculate the earnings per share attributable to GMH (NYSE symbol) common stock.

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Note to Editors: The UHF F8 launch will be carried on Galaxy III, transponder #15.