Falcon Eye Spy Sat Contract Goes Into Effect

The deal has been long awaited as a previous high-profile $930 million contract signed last year between the UAE and France had lapsed before going into effect. Abu Dhabi looked to obtain technology transfer as gulf state officials renegotiated the space contract.

"The contract was officially signed by the United Arab Emirates in August 2014 and is now entering into force," Airbus Defence and Space said in statement. The Airbus unit is lead in the industrial team, while Thales Alenia Space is co-prime contractor.

"The Falcon Eye high-performance Earth-observation satellite system will provide an unrivaled observation capability to the Emirate's Armed Forces," said François Auque, head of Airbus Space Systems.

"This very wide-ranging cooperation program is, along with the Yahsat communication satellite system, another example of the sustainable cooperation between Airbus Defence and Space and the United Arab Emirates," he said.

The contract covers two high resolution optical satellites, a ground system and training for UAE engineers, who will control the satellites once in orbit, Airbus Defence and Space said.

France initially signed the $930 million deal in July 2013, but that ran into difficulties after it emerged the French package included "back-door" access to a third, unauthorized party, and also needed US authorization for two specific US-supplied components.

That US clearance slowed the French deal, and it took a private meeting in February between President Barack Obama and François Hollande to reach an agreement to speed up the American authorization.

The UAE initially chose an offer from Lockheed Martin, but French Defense Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian succeeded in persuading the gulf state to switch to a French offer, business website La Tribune reported.

Le Drian also managed to persuade Airbus and Thales to pitch a cooperative offer, so there was just one rather than two competing offers from Europe, La Tribune reported.

Thales Alenia Space, 67 percent owned by Thales, 33 percent by Finmeccanica, will supply the payload, while Airbus Defence and Space will deliver the Astrobus platform.

DigitalGlobe, a US independent commercial company, said it had received unsolicited interest from the UAE on its GeoEye-2 satellite. ■

Email: ptran@defensenews.com.

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