The construction order for Brazil’s defence communications satellited SGDC-1 has been awarded to the European satellite manufacturer Thales Alenia Space. The contract announcement was made on 12 August. According to Space News, Thales Alenia Space beat off competition from Space Systems/Loral and Mitsibushi Electric to win the contract.
As part of the deal, with the technical help of Thales Alenia Space, further satellites in the SGDC series will be built by Brazil’s Visiona Tecnologica Espacial SA, which is a joint venture between Telebras and Embraer Defense. The construction of the satellite and an Ariane 5 launch (negotiated separately) of SGDC 1 is reportedly budgeted at 716 million Brazilian reals ($314 million).