[Satellite News 02-24-10] Astrium Services began 2010 with a contract by the European Defence Agency (EDA) to provide a new preparatory study aimed at coordinating the future military communication needs of the European Union (EU).
    The company also signed a key contract in 2009 with the French Ministry of telecommunications operator, DIRISI, which saw Astrium become the Ministry’s sole supplier in the private sector of fixed satellite services. This is a four-year contract (ASTEL-S) and sees Astrium Services provide French forces globally with civil (Ku-, Ka- and C-band) and military (UHF- and X-band) satellite telecommunications services that complement the Syracuse network.
    In the following interview, Astrium CEO Eric Béranger talks about the company’s deal flow over the last 12 months and where it goes from here.

Béranger: I am extremely thankful to the European Defence Agency (EDA) for their trust. This will really be a matter of working together with the EDA to map out the needs of the various EDA Members. So, we have a tradition to really partner with customers, and this contract is exactly in the same spirit. This is very much a partnership with the EDA. We are going to work very much hand in hand with them to map out the needs of the various nations. Then it will be up to the EDA to decide what they will do, and what the next steps will be.

Béranger: It is complementary. I think this will always be the case. Satellite allows you to be quick when you have nothing else. If you want a certain level of security quickly, satellite can bridge the gap. Satellite also works very well with terrestrial networks. Terrestrial technologies can be economic but cannot always meet the needs for mobility. Mobility often requires satellite. Today, when we offer welfare communications to French troops, we are using a combination of satellite and wireless radio technologies. We have satellite links and mobile network infrastructure on the ground. So, we use this combination. For the United Kingdom, we serve areas where British troops are present, and some times we are using landlines, so don’t need to use satellite. We meet the needs of our military customers – and so combine whatever infrastructure is needed in order to deliver the best value for money.

Béranger: Syracuse could be one. Apart from this, there could be other contracts. It would be difficult for me to say anything publicly right now. Military based systems are around 60 percent of our overall revenues.

Béranger: There have been a number of rumors over the last year. If we stick to facts, the only fact, so far is that nothing has happened. The topic for France is whether they decide to change their model, and outsource their military satellite communications. You then have the question of how much of this you outsource. The United Kingdom has outsourced everything. The Germans own the terminals on the ground. Initially, they were thinking about not owning their satellites. But, today, they own their own satellites. We own the ground stations and provide all the commercial capacity. In France, there is a wide range of choice. They could decide to sell their satellites and or ground stations and even terminals etc. They could outsource more network services. All of this is a decision to be made. My understanding is that there has been a lot of thinking on this inside the French military in the last year. The decision belongs to the French military.

Béranger: We are working to build on the first steps we made in 2009 in the United States. In the United States, we signed contracts with Intelsat General and CapRock. We also signed an IDIQ contract (indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity) in the United States with the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) for TerraSAR-X data. This TerraSAR contract was a huge recognition for us. In 2010, we hope to continue to provide the U.S. DoD through various reseller agreements with our X-band and UHF (Ultra High Frequency) capacity. Now, that we have an IDIQ contract on TerraSAR, of course, we strongly expect and hope to fill it.
    We are also working on contracts which bring added value to Earth observation data. We are working on a number of National Space Data Infrastructure (NSDI) contracts. We have signed one with Serbia. In 2010, we see a number of further opportunities for these deals. You generally sign an agreement with an administration of a country. These agreements are used by countries to better use their space capabilities. It is fundamental to assist them in their continuing development. Somewhere like Serbia can use these capabilities to help them rebuild in a way. It is a huge step up. You bring them consistent maps throughout the country with a plethora of information. We have a number of targets to sign more of these deals.
    We also intend to launch the second German SatComBw satellite this year. We will also launch TanDEM-X which will fly in close formation with TerraSAR-X and ultimately and together provide 3D data. We are expecting Pleaides which will provide us with high accuracy data. We will watch what is happening in France. The timing and the nature of what will happen in France with Syracuse is in the hands of the French authorities. We are watching it extremely closely.

Béranger: Things are very different from customer to customer, so it is progressing at different rates in the security world. For example some of our customers need to combine everything. If you look at the forces today in Haiti, for example, they need in a matter of hours to have the complete picture of the situation. This means images, communications, locations etc. They need the full spectrum. It is a matter of working with them and defining what is best for them. With the military, it depends on the mission. We have today some people in Afghanistan, for instance, who are using small terminals, where we are combining communications and location. We have, and are still developing a number of combinations. It is very much tailor-made for our customers. It starts with one of the aspects, such as telecoms, geo-information, or location etc. We work with our customers and progress little by little – in partnership.