Egypt to purchase French military satellite on Tuesday...

[DJKeefy]

Egypt to purchase French military satellite on Tuesday: La Tribune.

Egyptian officials are expected to sign a contract with two aerospace companies for the sale of a military telecommunications satellite in France on Tuesday, French newspaper La Tribune reported.

The contract for the sale of the satellite amounts to approximately 600 million Euros.

The deal will be signed with Thales Alenia Space (TAS), Franco-Italian aerospace manufacturer, and Space Systems Airbus.

According to La Tribune, the deal came following seven months of negotiations between Cairo and the two industrial companies.

During French president Francois Hollande's visit to Cairo on 17 April, 30 memorandums of understanding between the two countries were signed.

In December 2015, it was reported that the two countries were unable to reach an agreement concerning Egypt's purchase of two satellites, citing technical reasons for the failure in negotiations.

Meanwhile, La Tribune reports that TAS and Space Systems' initial proposal was two satellites, one specialized for telecom and the other for observation.

The finalized contract specifies that Egypt will only purchase the military telecommunications satellite.

Cairo and Paris have enjoyed close ties since current president Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi was elected in 2014. During the past two years, Egypt and France have signed several arms deals.

Source: http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/208260.aspx

[DJKeefy]

Hmm 600 million Euros on a satellite!!! What about the EGYPTIAN PEOPLE who are suffering each day due to the lack of jobs and money etc.

[Hafiz]

The Israeli media speculate that the purpose of the French military satellite is prestige and spying on the Renaissance dam in Ethiopia (a bit late in the day).

There are the existing Egyptsat1, civilian, and its sister, 2, military, both of them owned by the citizens of Egypt. I can understand government funding military satellites but commercial communications - leave it to the private sector and use your tax piastres to a better purpose.

If two military ones aren't enough there is a proposed Egyptsat3 built with China and owned by the Egyptian taxpayer which may or may not be military and due for 2017. You can never have too many satellites. http://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Expert ... rts-438256