Arianespace has signed a contract with Airbus Defence and Space to launch two Falcon Eye satellites into low Earth orbit (LEO) by using two Vega (or Soyuz) launchers from the Guiana Space Center, the company announced in its press release on Tuesday.
The launches are scheduled for 2018 and 2019. These two high-performance Earth observation satellites are being built for the United Arab Emirates armed forces by Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space.
Till Tuesday, 221 Ariane launches, 36 Soyuz launches (10 at the Guiana Space Centre and 26 at Baikonur with Starsem) and four Vega launches have been performed.
The United Arab Emirates acquired two reconnaissance satellites in July 2013 from French military optical group subsidiaries Space Systems Airbus and Thales Alenia Space for an amount of approximately € 700 million.