Airbus Defence and Space will build the ground segment for France's next-generation optical and infrared reconnaissance satellite system and maintain it for 12 years under a contract valued at 300 million euros ($400 million) and announced Jan. 23. The contract, with France's arms-procurement agency, DGA, follows a December 2010 contract with Airbus and satellite-payload developer Thales Alenia Space to build two satellites to succeed the current French Helios 2 reconnaissance spacecraft. Valued at 795 million euros, the 2010 contract called for the first of the two satellites to be in orbit in 2016. DGA said Jan. 23 that the satellite's launch, and the beginning of the 12-year service commitment, is scheduled "as from 2017."
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