The French Government has finally agreed that the 26% of Arianespace shares that its space agency CNES holds will now be transferred to Airbus Safran Launchers. This will bring the overall shareholding of Arianespace that Airbus Safran Launchers holds to 74%. The remaining shares will remain in the hands of ESA investor nations.
According to reports in Space News, Jean-Yves Le Gall, President of CNES and former head of Arianespace, envisages that, as the launch pad provider, they will still have an oversight role.
Arianespace has offices in Washington, D.C., Singapore and Tokyo as well as in Evry, near Paris, and Kourou, French Guaina.
Comment by David Todd: Arianespace is expected to become the “marketing” subsidiary of Airbus Safran Launchers, with the parent firm being in control of production and operation of Ariane 5, Vega, Soyuz and, eventually, the Ariane 6 launch vehicles. This will mirror the way that ILS (International Launch Services) markets the Proton and Angara for Khrunichev as the Russian firm’s commercial launch provider. It may also allow Arianespace/Airbus to offer turnkey construction-with-launch contracts similar to those offered by China’s space marketing firm, CGWIC.
