Avio-Arianespace for Vega, here are the Italy-France space agreements

22 March 20213 years ago babelfish

All the details on the agreement signed at Mise between Avio and Arianespace: contract for the supply of Vega C space launchers

The Italy-France axis is consolidated to guarantee Europe autonomy in accessing space.

One of the dossiers on the table of the meeting of 19 March between the Italian Minister of Economic Development and the French Minister of Economy and Finance was precisely space . Giancarlo Giorgetti (Lega) and Bruno Le Maire have in fact relaunched a “close collaboration” in the aerospace sector. Cooperation that will soon be extended to include Germany as well.

As anticipated by the meeting last November between the former undersecretary Fraccaro (M5S) and Le Maire who had announced the creation of a working group between the main European countries involved in space (and major contributors to ESA): Italy , France and Germany.

And from policy to facts, the French giant of launchers Arianespace and the Italian one Avio, prime contractor for the Vega and Vega-C launchers, have signed an industrial road map before their respective ministers.

Agreement signed to start production of a batch of 10 new Vega-Cs, which will fly from 2023.

All the details.

WHAT IS THE CONTRACT BETWEEN AVIO AND ARIANESPACE

The contract concerns the supply by Avio to Arianespace, the subsidiary of Arianegroup (70%) that deals with the marketing of flights, of 10 Vega C launchers in the period 2023-2024, with an option for another 4 launchers.

VEGA C FOR INSTITUTIONAL LAUNCHES OF THE COPERNICUS PROGRAM AND MORE

The Vega C carriers will be used for institutional launches of the EU Commission's Copernicus program and for other needs of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI).

Vega C is a new generation lightweight launcher, an evolution of the proven Vega, suitable for launching both commercial and government payloads.

THE RISE OF VEGA C (AVIO) BEGINS FOR ARIANESPACE

“We need strong ambitions from the top three countries for pitchers, Italy, France and Germany. Today we see two ministers responsible for the economy present at the signing of this agreement, which is an important and strong signal of the importance of what we are building together as a European industry ”, commented Arianespace CEO Stéphane Israël.

According to Israël, the agreement with Avio “gives concrete form to the rise of Vega-C, in particular for European institutional needs”.

“With these long-term supplies, Arianespace initiates the order for the fourth batch of Vega launchers, the first consisting exclusively of the advanced Vega C version – he continued -. A number of European programs dedicated to Earth observation and science experiments, in particular the Copernicus program, will fully benefit from the gains in competitiveness achieved by Vega C. More than ever, Vega is establishing itself as the second pillar, together with Ariane , of Europe's autonomy in access to space ".

THE FAMILY OF EUROPEAN LAUNCHERS

The European family of launchers marketed by ArianeSpace includes Vega C and Ariane 6, the future European launchers. Ariane 6 with prime contractor the French-German ArianeGroup, destined to bring the satellites into high orbit, and Vega C with prime contractor Avio, for the medium-small satellites in low orbit.

The first flight of Ariane 6 has been postponed to the second quarter of 2022 , with a delay of eighteen months compared to the initial schedule, due to technical difficulties aggravated by Covid.

The first flight of the Vega C, already scheduled for this year, has also been postponed by ESA to the first months of 2022.

In addition to the delay of the Ariane 6 program, Arianespace suffered another setback on November 16 with the failed launch of Vega. Then the launch of the Soyuz on December 1st took care to put the satellite of the United Arab Emirates Falcon Eye correctly into orbit.

VEGA READY TO RETURN TO FLIGHT

But Vega is ready to leave the Kourou space base in French Guiana on April 20.

"We are preparing the return to the flight of Vega, scheduled for the end of April" added the number one of Arianespace. "I want to underline the quality of the way we are working together with Avio and ESA, the quality of our collaboration, to make sure that all the necessary work is done correctly".

AVIO'S SATISFACTION FOR VEGA C

"We are delighted to receive this order for a new batch of Vega C. This agreement confirms the interest and trust of Arianespace customers for this new launcher, the result of effective collaboration between various European industries coordinated by Avio", commented Giulio Ranzo, CEO of Avio.

ACCOUNTS IN LINE WITH THE GUIDANCE

On the same day, the board of directors of the Colleferro company examined and approved the draft financial statements and the consolidated financial statements of Avio SpA at 31 December 2020.

Covid-19 weighs heavily on Avio's accounts which, however, archives 2020 with results in line with the Guidance, improving both the blacklog and the cash and with the horizon of an upcoming launch of the Vega in April. The company listed on the Star segment of the Italian Stock Exchange closed the past year with net revenues of € 322 million, down by 12.6%. Reported Ebitda, equal to 35.2 million euros, was down by 17.4% as well as net profit of 14.9 million euros (-44.9% compared to 2019).

STRENGTHENED THE PARIS-ROME AXIS ON LAUNCHERS

The signing of the two contracts further strengthens the excellent collaboration between France and Italy in the launcher sector which allows Europe to have autonomous access to space. They also strengthen bilateral cooperation in the most advanced research with important repercussions on the employment front, both in Italy and in France.

THE CONTRIBUTION OF ASI

To guarantee "his own contribution" to the Italian-French strategy on the future of European space launchers was the president of ASI, Giorgio Saccoccia, who expressed "great satisfaction with the outcome of the meeting" between the Italian minister Giorgetti and the French minister Le Maire. The meeting led to the initialing of "a Joint Declaration on the future of European space launchers and the Italian Space Agency is ready to give its contribution to the joint working group for the definition of a common strategy on the future of European launchers that will involve Germany too ”assured Saccoccia.

THREE COLLABORATION ON THE SPACE

Therefore close collaboration between France and Italy, to be extended also to Germany, "in the aerospace to understand everything that needs to be done to compete at the same level and with the same ambition" compared to the other competitors, said Giorgetti. “With the Italian Minister of Economic Development – reported Le Maire – we decided to define a common strategy for Ariane 6 and a road map on space launchers”. “We have decided – the French minister continued – to set up an Italian-French working group on space launchers”. It is, he explained, "a three-party agreement: Italy, France and Germany" and with the latter an agreement could be reached "by next July".

GERMANY'S ENTRANCE IN COLLABORATION

The “priority is to work for the successful affirmation on the market of the Vega C and Ariane 6, which respond to a common interest of the two countries together with Germany” remarked the CEO of Arianespace.

But Germany has been a key partner of the Ariane program from the start and its industrial share will be even greater in Ariane 6 than in Ariane 5, as it is expected to reach 22% as Israël explained in a recent interview .

Furthermore, in 2019, the German Bundestag voted a text in which it put in black and white the vocation to launch its satellites with Ariane 6. Germany has therefore, without a doubt, shown support for Ariane 6. Without forgetting the question of micro-launchers that arouse strong interest in Germany. Is there therefore a risk of a marginalization of the role of Vega with the expansion of collaboration to Germany?

WHAT END OF THE SECOND CONTRACT FOR AVIO?

Finally, in the meeting of 19 March, Mise had initially reported that Ariangroup and Europropulsion (an equal joint venture between Avio and Arianegroup) signed a production contract for the supply by Avio of 34 P120 engines for Ariane carriers. 6 in the next two years (contract value ranging between 200 and 400 million). However, this second contract no longer appears in the official note of the Mise.

This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/avio-arianespace-per-vega-ecco-le-intese-spaziali-italia-francia/ on Mon, 22 Mar 2021 15:24:58 +0000.