The French space agency CNES awarded Arianespace a contract to launch two Pleiades Earth observation satellites. The satellite will be launched on board Soyuz rockets from Kourou, French Guiana in 2008 and 2009.

CNES also contracted Arianespace to launch the Corot stellar observation satellite. This bird will be launched in mid-2006 as part of the maiden flight of the Soyuz 2-1b launch vehicle in mid-2006 from the Baikonur cosmodrome.

EADS Astrium tapped Arianespace as well to launch Skynet 5A and 5B satellites for the British Ministry of Defense. These satellites will be launched on Ariane 5 rockets in the second half of 2006 and the second half of 2007, respectively, from the Kourou launch site.