Condensed Consolidated Statements Of Operations And Comprehensive Income (USD $) In Thousands, except Share data, unless otherwise specified	3 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2012	Mar. 31, 2011
Condensed Consolidated Statements Of Operations And Comprehensive Income [Abstract]
Revenues	$ 286,713	$ 279,899
Cost of revenues	(259,870)	(231,521)
Selling, general and administrative expenses	(29,096)	(20,926)
Operating (loss) income	(2,253)	27,452
Interest and investment income	10,596	7,573
Interest expense	(652)	(632)
Gain on litigation, net		4,470
Other expense	(360)	(1,951)
Income before income taxes and equity in net income of affiliates	7,331	36,912
Income tax provision	(6,582)	(15,363)
Income before equity in net income of affiliates	749	21,549
Equity in net income of affiliates	6,869	46,246
Net income	7,618	67,795
Net loss attributable to noncontrolling interest	13	24
Net income attributable to Loral common shareholders	7,631	67,819
Other comprehensive income (loss), net of tax	2,797	(7,104)
Comprehensive income attributable to Loral common shareholders	$ 10,428	$ 60,715
Net income per share attributable to Loral common shareholders:
Basic	$ 0.25	$ 2.21
Diluted	$ 0.24	$ 2.10
Weighted average common shares outstanding:
Basic	30,602,000	30,637,000
Diluted	30,958,000	31,338,000