Denmark’s two leading companies within the country’s defence industry — Terma and Systematic — have concluded an agreement that will open up the prospects for export and enable the two companies to jointly bid for contracts which are expected from the Danish Army. With the Danish market as the platform, the partners aim to offer their competencies for solving the major transformation tasks that the armed forces are currently facing both nationally and internationally. This mix of competencies is well established following the companies’ recent close collaboration to co-develop and successfully implement an ultramodern Command and Control system for the Danish Navy.
For the latest agreement, the partners’ main task will be to meet the challenge presented to the armed forces by Network Based Operations (NBO) involving the implementation of a major change process that facilitates communication across nations’ armed forces and between various services and units within the armed forces. Both Terma and Systematic have substantial and complementary competencies within this area, thus presenting them with the opportunity of offering the Danish armed forces an outstanding solution within NBO.
EADS SPACE is set to play a central role in the test phase for the new European satellite navigation system Galileo, following the signing of a contract between Galileo Industries, as the prime contractor, and the European Space Agency (ESA). The contract is worth €1 B with almost one fifth to be handled by the space units of EADS. The contract covers the development and construction of the first four Galileo constellation satellites and part of the ground infrastructure for Galileo, including the full testing of the subsystem.
The In Orbit Validation (IOV) phase is designed to test the new European satellite navigation system under real mission conditions. During this phase, EADS Astrium in Ottobrunn, Germany, will assume system leadership for the space segment and initially take overall responsibility for the construction of the first four of 30 satellites. In Ottobrunn, important components such as the attitude control system will be designed and manufactured. In conjunction with Dutch Space, the company will also provide the solar arrays for the four satellites, while the propulsion units will come from EADS SPACE Transportation in Lampoldshausen, Germany.
Responsibility for the payload on board the four satellites and also the ground control segment, which provides satellite control, lies with EADS Astrium in the United Kingdom. EADS Astrium in Portsmouth, UK, will assume system responsibility for the globally deployed ground control segment covering the 30 satellite constellations in orbit. In addition, Portsmouth will design and manufacture the onboard navigation payload, which generates and transmits the navigation signals to users, and also important equipment such as the solid-state power amplifiers.