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Bremen / Brussels (dpa) - The Bremen-based space company OHB did not win the tender for the new generation of the European navigation satellite Galileo.
The European Space Agency, ESA, informed OHB on behalf of the EU Commission that OHB Systems AG's offer was unsuccessful, the company announced in an ad hoc announcement on Wednesday.
Instead, the Franco-German Airbus group and the Italian-French Thales Alenia Space were awarded the contract, as the EU Commission announced in Brussels.
Accordingly, it is about the construction of a total of twelve satellites with an order volume of 1.47 billion euros.
The decision was made on the recommendation of ESA.
The aim is to keep Galileo ahead of the technological curve in global competition and to keep it as one of the best systems for satellite positioning, announced the EU Commission.
This is also crucial for Europe's strategic autonomy.
Galileo is a European alternative to the US navigation system GPS.
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The first satellites of the second generation should be launched into space at the end of 2024.
They should improve the precision of Galileo and the resilience of the signal, among other things.
This is also important for military use.
OHB had already prevailed in three tendering rounds since 2010 and was commissioned to develop, build and test a total of 34 Galileo satellites.
According to OHB, 22 of these are already in space.
The remaining ones are in different production and test stages and are not affected by the current decision.
The contract with Airbus and Thales should be signed at the end of the month.
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OHB
Communication from the EU Commission