PARIS — The U.K. Ministry of Defense has decided to acquire a fourth Skynet 5 spacecraft and to extend the contract for supply of services from the Skynet constellation by two additional years, to 2022. The 400 million pound ($600 million) extension will bring the total value of the private financing initiative (PFI) to 3.6 billion pounds ($5.4 billion).

Construction of long-lead items, including the payload, is already largely completed under a previous two-year extension agreed to in December 2005. This will enable the satellite, Skynet 5D, to be orbited in 2013. EADS Astrium is supplying the spacecraft and Astrium Services affiliate Paradigm is the service provider.

The defense ministry said the new extension was motivated by growing operational requirements in foreign theaters — including Afghanistan, Iraq and the Balkans — and heavy demand among allies. The Czech Republic, Slovenia and Norway recently agreed to sign on for Skynet 5 capacity, which is already used by Australia, Belgium, Canada, France, Germany, Netherlands, Portugal and the U.S., as well as NATO.

Artist's concept of Skynet 5: EADS Astrium