Thales Awarded EUR 85 M for System Support Services of Galileo

• European Commission launches the procurement of Galileo's initial operational capability

(Cannes, January 7, 2009) -- Today in Brussels, the European Commission has communicated the decision to award to Thales Alenia Space Italia through a framework contract lasting from 2010 till 2016 for the "System Support" to European Space Agency (ESA). The activities will be covered for the period 2010 till 2014 by the first work order for a value of about EUR 85 million.

The System Support framework contract is one of the six contracts through which Galileo will be developed to become operational in early 2014. With the System Support contract, Thales Alenia Space Italia, will perform the overall System Design, the System Security Design, the overall System Integration, Verification and In Orbit Validation.


"The assignment of this contract, after a competition process, recognises the competence of Thales Alenia Space in "System of System" design and integration, already proved in the ongoing Galileo In Orbit Validation (IOV) phase, aimed to verify the Galileo initial performance", said Reynald Seznec, CEO of Thales Alenia Space. "In the IOV phase, the Thales Alenia Space role encompasses also, the Mission Ground Segment design and development, and Space Segment major subsystems development. In particular in its industrial Rome site, Thales Alenia Space is carrying out the assembly, integration and test of the four IOV satellites after successful delivery and launch of Giove-B", added Luigi Pasquali, CEO of Thales Alenia Space Italia.

As prime contractor for the EGNOS program since 1997 and a pivotal contributor to satellite navigation systems since the 1990s, Thales Alenia Space naturally became the principal promoter and industrial driver of the European programme Galileo.

Source : Thales Group (Paris: HO.PA)