Turkey, Airbus to sign deal for new comms satellites

By Arife Yildiz Unal

ANKARA (AA) - Turkey will sign an agreement with Airbus on Nov. 9 for the production of Turksat 5A and Turksat 5B communications satellites, Transport, Maritime and Communications Minister Ahmet Arslan said Thursday.

The contract will be signed with Airbus Defence and Space (Airbus D&S) during the Global SatShow in Istanbul and the production of satellites will start immediately afterwards, Arslan told Anadolu Agency.

Arslan said that three top international firms had bid for the job: the French-U.K. partnership Airbus D&S, Japan's Mitsubishi Electric Corporation, and the Canadian-U.S. partnership MDA/Space System Loral.

"All of them were technically qualified. However, Airbus made the best bid during the negotiations both financially and in terms of domestic contribution," Arslan said.

Turkey aims to launch the Turksat 5A by 2020 and Turksat 5B by 2021, he added.