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EurasiaNet.org, NY
May 6 2011
Azerbaijan: Baku's Satellite Deal Sends Armenian Diaspora Groups into Orbit
May 6, 2011 - 1:41pm, by Joshua Kucera
The United States is going to finance Azerbaijan's first
communications satellite, despite objections from some US-based
Armenian groups that argue it could be used for military purposes.
The US Export-Import Bank, an agency of the US government, has agreed
to finance Baku's purchase of the AzerSat satellite from the US
manufacturer Orbital. The satellite will cost $120 million, of which
85 percent will be paid by funds loaned through the bank and repaid by
Azerbaijan over the next 10 years.
Some Armenian groups in the United States protested the deal, arguing
that Azerbaijan could use the satellite for military purposes,
especially in connection with Baku's long-standing efforts to regain
control over Nagorno-Karabakh.
`The Obama Administration's business-as-usual attitude toward
Azerbaijan effectively lends moral and material support to President
Ilham Aliyev's increasingly loud and public threats to use every
resource at his disposal to renew Baku's war against
Nagorno-Karabakh,' said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). `Americans should not
be providing export financing, military support, or any other type of
assistance to an unapologetically belligerent government that, in just
the past few weeks, threatened to shoot down a civilian Armenian
airliner.'
Azerbaijan, however, has given no indication that it intends to use
the satellite for anything other than commercial communications. It
will be operated by the Ministry of Communications, and Ex-Im Bank
representatives said they examined the contract for the satellite and
concluded that there would be no military application for the
satellite. `Following a comprehensive review of the facts,
consultation with relevant US Government agencies and a thorough
evaluation of the project, Ex-Im Bank has determined that the
Azerspace/Africasat 1A satellite does not represent a defense
article,' wrote the bank's president and chairman, Fred Hochberg, in
an April 26 letter to the ANCA.
`The satellite is not equipped with military-grade communications
technology, it's going to be in a geosynchronous orbit, it's going to
rebroadcast radio frequency messages that are on channels from the
providers or senders to the end users via commercial frequency bands,'
Phil Cogan, a spokesman for the bank, told EurasiaNet.org. `The
government of Azerbaijan has notified us that the Ministry of Defense
wasn't involved in the development, nor will it be engaged in the
operation of this satellite.'
Satellite experts surveyed by EurasiaNet.org said that the line
between commercial and military satellite communications is often
blurry, and militaries can use commercial communications satellites,
albeit not as effectively as they would satellites designed
specifically for military applications. `There is no precise
definition of a military communications satellite from a capability
standpoint,' and much depends on individual countries' policies and
laws, said Brian Weeden, a former US Air Force officer working on
space issues, now a technical adviser at the Secure World Foundation,
a space policy advocacy group.
The US military, for example, uses commercial communications
satellites to control and get data from unmanned drones, and for
secure military cell phone networks. And a country that has its own
satellite, even a commercial one, could provide advantage to its
military, said an Air Force officer who spoke to EurasiaNet.org on
condition of anonymity. `You're guaranteed access, you're guaranteed
communications,' the officer said.
Ex-Im Bank cannot release the details of the contract that ensure that
it won't be used for military purposes, Cogan said. But he said that
financing military projects violates the charter of the bank and that
if it finds out that Azerbaijan is using the satellite for military
purposes, they could take `recourse' against the country, without
specifying what those measures are.
The satellite is scheduled to be launched toward the end of 2012 by
the French company Arianespace, at its facility in French Guiana.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63437
From: A. Papazian
May 6 2011
Azerbaijan: Baku's Satellite Deal Sends Armenian Diaspora Groups into Orbit
May 6, 2011 - 1:41pm, by Joshua Kucera
The United States is going to finance Azerbaijan's first
communications satellite, despite objections from some US-based
Armenian groups that argue it could be used for military purposes.
The US Export-Import Bank, an agency of the US government, has agreed
to finance Baku's purchase of the AzerSat satellite from the US
manufacturer Orbital. The satellite will cost $120 million, of which
85 percent will be paid by funds loaned through the bank and repaid by
Azerbaijan over the next 10 years.
Some Armenian groups in the United States protested the deal, arguing
that Azerbaijan could use the satellite for military purposes,
especially in connection with Baku's long-standing efforts to regain
control over Nagorno-Karabakh.
`The Obama Administration's business-as-usual attitude toward
Azerbaijan effectively lends moral and material support to President
Ilham Aliyev's increasingly loud and public threats to use every
resource at his disposal to renew Baku's war against
Nagorno-Karabakh,' said Aram Hamparian, executive director of the
Armenian National Committee of America (ANCA). `Americans should not
be providing export financing, military support, or any other type of
assistance to an unapologetically belligerent government that, in just
the past few weeks, threatened to shoot down a civilian Armenian
airliner.'
Azerbaijan, however, has given no indication that it intends to use
the satellite for anything other than commercial communications. It
will be operated by the Ministry of Communications, and Ex-Im Bank
representatives said they examined the contract for the satellite and
concluded that there would be no military application for the
satellite. `Following a comprehensive review of the facts,
consultation with relevant US Government agencies and a thorough
evaluation of the project, Ex-Im Bank has determined that the
Azerspace/Africasat 1A satellite does not represent a defense
article,' wrote the bank's president and chairman, Fred Hochberg, in
an April 26 letter to the ANCA.
`The satellite is not equipped with military-grade communications
technology, it's going to be in a geosynchronous orbit, it's going to
rebroadcast radio frequency messages that are on channels from the
providers or senders to the end users via commercial frequency bands,'
Phil Cogan, a spokesman for the bank, told EurasiaNet.org. `The
government of Azerbaijan has notified us that the Ministry of Defense
wasn't involved in the development, nor will it be engaged in the
operation of this satellite.'
Satellite experts surveyed by EurasiaNet.org said that the line
between commercial and military satellite communications is often
blurry, and militaries can use commercial communications satellites,
albeit not as effectively as they would satellites designed
specifically for military applications. `There is no precise
definition of a military communications satellite from a capability
standpoint,' and much depends on individual countries' policies and
laws, said Brian Weeden, a former US Air Force officer working on
space issues, now a technical adviser at the Secure World Foundation,
a space policy advocacy group.
The US military, for example, uses commercial communications
satellites to control and get data from unmanned drones, and for
secure military cell phone networks. And a country that has its own
satellite, even a commercial one, could provide advantage to its
military, said an Air Force officer who spoke to EurasiaNet.org on
condition of anonymity. `You're guaranteed access, you're guaranteed
communications,' the officer said.
Ex-Im Bank cannot release the details of the contract that ensure that
it won't be used for military purposes, Cogan said. But he said that
financing military projects violates the charter of the bank and that
if it finds out that Azerbaijan is using the satellite for military
purposes, they could take `recourse' against the country, without
specifying what those measures are.
The satellite is scheduled to be launched toward the end of 2012 by
the French company Arianespace, at its facility in French Guiana.
http://www.eurasianet.org/node/63437
From: A. Papazian