Thales Alenia Space, one of the major players in the satellite manufacturing arena, has been boosted recently by winning a huge satellite contract in the Middle East. Al Yah Satellite Communications Co. (Yahsat) awarded a contract to a joint team of Astrium and Thales Alenia Space in August to build a $1.7 billion dual satellite communications system for launch in the second half of 2010.
Pascale Sourisse, CEO of Thales Alenia Space, discusses the significance of the Yahsat win and how she sees the satellite manufacturing arena developing.
Via Satellite: What are your expectations in terms of picking up new contracts over the next 12 months in the manufacturing business?
Sourisse: In 2006, we have seen a recovery in the commercial satellite market. This recovery has been confirmed in 2007. We forecast the commercial satellite market will see around 25 satellites ordered per year over the next five years. The market is very dynamic. Sometimes, we decide to bid for complete satellites, sometimes we bid in partnerships with other suppliers, and we are either in charge of the satellite payload or satellite platform. We have a good market position and we think we will maintain our typical market share.
Via Satellite: How important do you see Yahsat’s role in developing the Middle East communications market?
Sourisse: We believe this initiative in the UAE is a very interesting one. Yahsat is going to develop the government and the commercial markets. They anticipate strong demand on the government side and they are also very positive that demand is exceeding supply for satellite capacity in the region.
Via Satellite: How do you benefit from being part of the Thales group?
Sourisse: We believe the transfer of these space activities to the Thales Group is something very positive for our company. There are lots of synergies between our space activities and the other Thales activities, in particular, in the fields of defense, security or aeronautics. We work very closely with the other Thales divisions that have complementary technologies to develop integrated applications which combine space technologies with aeronautical and terrestrial technologies, in order to deliver end-to-end systems or systems of systems.
In the field of defense, one example is related to combining satellite-based communications together with terrestrial communications. Thales is a leader in both fields. Another one is intelligence and reconnaissance. In the defense market, we can combine the expertise of Thales in the intelligence field together with our ability to deliver satellite-based observation systems, either optical or radar.
There are obviously examples in the aeronautical arena, with aeronautical communications. Satellite will be a contributor to the new generation of air traffic management systems. There are many examples in the field of security for civilian users, such as the GMES (Global Monitoring for Environment and Security) program under the leadership of [the European Space Agency]. We will aim at using the other competencies of Thales in the field of security to offer broader applications.
That being said, while there are a lot of synergies between the Thales divisions themselves, we also maintain a strong cooperation relationship with Alcatel Lucent in the field of commercial telecoms. We are working together on the Mobile TV project, in which we deliver the space segment and Alcatel Lucent works on integrating this satellite based solutions with mobile networks.
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