[RightWhale]

UFO) F11 communications satellite into Earth orbit on a commercial mission

This is soooo confusing. It's a Navy satellite. Why did they name it the UFO?

[NonValueAdded]

For the same reason that they named the MOAB the Mother Of All Bombs, or a dog licks his, er, lockbox - because they could! What else would call someting you shoot up into space to fly around the world? I guess the name wasn't taken. :)

[Stars N Stripes]

UHF Follow-On (UFO)The Boeing-built UHF Follow-On (UFO) constellation is the primary U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) system for tactical mobile communications. The constellation, consisting of eight active spacecraft plus an in-orbit spare, supports the Navy's global communications network, serving ships at sea and a variety of other U.S. military fixed and mobile terminals.

[NonValueAdded]

OK, wise answer out of my system.

"It's the last of the Navy's "UFO" or Ultra high-frequency Follow-On satellites, which allow people in all branches of the military to talk securely between the ground, ships and airplanes, often with small, portable terminals. " according to Florida Today (who's web coverage seems to have surpassed space.com - Lou Dobbs, take note!). The Navy probably took the lead for budgetary and mission requirement reasons and it is deemed "commercial" since they probably haave an arms-length outsourcing agreement with International Launch Service. That is a guess and I'm sure another FReeper will correct or augment the info.

ILS partners are Lockheed Martin and Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. They launch the Atlas and Proton rockets. Interesting.