Agence France Presse is reporting that Alenia Spazio, a unit of Italian defense group Finmeccanica, was awarded a 775 million euro ($1.04 billion) contract to supply the Italian Space Agency with three observation satellites to be used for civil and defense purposes and includes an option for a fourth. The first of the three satellites is expected to be launched in the fourth quarter of 2006 and the system should be fully operational by the end of 2008, the report said.