Transportation, Maritime and Communications Minister Ahmet Arslan announced that the contract with Airbus Defense and Space (Airbus D&S), the company which gave the best offer for the manufacturing of Türksat 5A and Türksat 5B communication satellites, will be signed at the Global SatShow on November 9th.
Arslan told AA correspondent that Turkey provides satellite services at three different orbital locations, 31 degrees East, 42 degrees East and 50 degrees East. Indicating that Türksat satellites are being used at the 42 and 50 degrees East orbital locations, but at the 31 degrees East orbital location, service is provided through a leased satellite.
Arslan pointed out that they started the process related to Türksat 5A and Türksat 5B satellites in order to launch a satellite belonging to Turkey instead of a leased satellite at the 31 degrees East orbital location. He said:
“In regards to the manufacturing of the satellites three of the leading companies in the world have made offers, the French-British partnership Airbus Defense and Space (Airbus D&S) from Japan, Mitsubishi Electric Corporation (MELCO), the Canadian-US partnership with MDA/Space System Loral (MDA/SSL). From a technical aspect, all three were well qualified. At the end of the talks, Airbus gave the most suitable bid in terms of financial and domestic contribution.”
Arslan, stated that the contract will be signed with Airbus D&S on November the 9th at the Global SatShow event, planned to be held in Istanbul, adding that after the signing of the contract the manufacturing process for the satellites will start immediately.
Minister Arslan stated that they planned to send Türksat 5A to space in 2020 and Türksat 5B in 2021, respectively.
We will have advanced in terms of Satellite
Arslan pointed out that they had collaborated with the Ministry of Science, Industry and Technology, and the Undersecretariat for Defense Industries regarding Türksat 6A and expressed that they planned to send the Türksat 6A satellite to space in 2020.
Arslan emphasized that at the end of the process the number of satellites would increase from 3 to 6. He said:
“There is a feature that only five countries in the world have the right to use. The new frequency band Ku, which is just newly being used. Turkey will be one of the countries to use the Ku-band frequency. With 6 satellites we will take our place in space, we will have advanced greatly in terms of this matter.”