Meridian 6

Meridian 6 (Russian: Меридиан-6), also known as Meridian No.16L, is a Russian military communications satellite, one of the Meridian series. It is designed to carry military communications traffic and is a replacement for the molniya satellites. In common with the earlier satellites these craft are in molniya orbits, a highly elliptical orbit named after the earlier satellites and giving good coverage of northern Russia.

Meridian

Meridian satellites are the replacement for older Soviet molniya satellites, and some authors think some functions of the parus satellites. They are built by ISS Reshetnev and may share some components with their GLONASS-M satellites. The first Meridian satellite was launched in 2006 and two of the six launched so far have failed - Meridian 2 due a problem with the Fregat upper stage and Meridian 5 due to a problem with the third-stage motor.

The satellites are believed to have a pressurised bus and a three axis control system. They are manufactured by PO Polyot on behalf of ISS Reshetnev. They have the GRAU index 14F112.