By Giulia Petroni

The European Commission said Wednesday that it has awarded two contracts worth a combined 1.47 billion euros ($1.78 billion) for 12 satellites to Airbus SE's Defence and Space division and Thales SA's Alenia Space.

The award, which follows an open competition, is set to initiate the launch of the second generation of Galileo, the European satellite positioning system. The first satellites will be placed in orbit by the end of 2024.

"The aim is to keep Galileo ahead of the technological curve compared to global competition and maintaining it as one of the best performing satellite positioning infrastructures," the commission said.

The contract is scheduled to be signed by the end of the month.

Write to Giulia Petroni at giulia.petroni@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

January 20, 2021 11:53 ET (16:53 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.
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