Israeli companies join European space project

[[MakkabI]]

Israeli companies are expected to gain approval from the European Union to participate in the European space program Galileo, one of the EU's most prestigious and expensive ventures.




Among the companies are the Defense Ministry's Rafael Armament Development Authority, the state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries (IAI), Orbit and Rokar International.

The decision to propose these companies for participation in the Galileo project, which is the European competitor to the American Global Positioning System (GPS) system for the commercial market, was reached in a meeting this weekend between the Israeli and European officials in Tel Aviv.

Israel will invest at least 15 million euros over five years, and an equal sum will be provided by the Europeans for orders to Israeli companies for equipment and technology. The Israeli investment will come from the ministries of trade, science, defense and finance.

The total European investment in the project is estimated at 4 billion euros for 30 satellites and ground stations.

Matimop - the Israeli Industry Center for R&D in the Chief Scientist's Office, headed by Lior Amitai, is responsible for handling Israeli participation in the project.

Besides Israel, 28 European countries and China are participating in the Galileo project.

The program will be run by a private contractor once the initial stage of setting up the satellite network is completed. The annual revenues are expected to be in the billions of dollars, and a French consortium is competing against a German competitor for the franchise to operate the system. American companies such as Lockheed-Martin are also attempting to enter into cooperation with the European groups.

[[MakkabI]]

[Marshal]

Besides Israel, 28 European countries and China are participating in the Galileo project.

So the EU lifted sanctions on China or what????

Interesting...