Hughes Space and Communications has filed a $300 million lawsuit against ILS International Launch Services - a Lockheed Martin/Khrunichev/ Energia US/Russian launch company - claiming that ILS had reneged on a contract to launch Hughes satellites at a fixed price.
Hughes claims that the launch price was raised by ILS so that it could fund improvements to the Proton launch operations at the Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. It also says that, when it attempted to obtain additional launches, as permitted in the contract, ILS refused.
Because of the breach of contract, Hughes will pay "dramatically higher" prices for equivalent launch services, the company says. Hughes has subsequently booked five launches on Chinese boosters (Flight International, 2 -9 July).
Source: Flight International