Airbus Bests Thales Alenia-OHB Team For $1.1B ESA Weather Satellite Contract

摘要

Airbus Defence and Space has been selected to build Europe's next generation of polar-orbiting meteorological satellites after an extended evaluation that hinged in part on whether bidders could guarantee equivalent work shares in both France and Germany, industry officials said. The European Space Agency's Industrial Policy Committee is expected to validate the choice of the agency's bid-evaluation board, which preferred Airbus to competitor Thales Alenia Space, on April 11. Thales Alenia of France and Italy was teamed with OHB AG of Bremen, Germany. The 20-nation ESA has budgeted 800 million euros ($1.1 billion) for its share of the Metop Second Generation program, mainly to cover the costs of the design and construction of the first pair of Metop-SG satellites, to be launched around 2021.