SCHIPHOL-RIJK (dpa-AFX) - Airbus SE (EADSY) announced Monday that its Airbus
Defence and Space unit has received a contract from Al Yah Satellite
Communications Co. PJSC, or Yahsat, UAE's flagship satellite solutions provider,
for its new geostationary telecommunications satellites, Al Yah 4 and Al Yah 5.

The contract includes two Airbus ARROW spacecraft platforms for future
deployment in low Earth orbit.

The companies in second quarter last year had signed an Authorisation-to-Proceed
to commence initial activities in relation to the AY4 and AY5 satellite
programme.

Under the contract, Airbus will design and manufacture both AY4 and AY5
satellites and will also provide ground control segment components. Both
spacecraft will have a design life of 15 years and are planned to be launched in
2027 and 2028, respectively.

Airbus will design and build the AY4 and AY5 satellites based on the Eurostar
Neo platform.

The company said the fully flexible, software-defined payloads will allow
in-orbit reconfiguration of coverage area, capacity and communication
frequencies.

Both AY4 and AY5 satellites will offer secure governmental communications over a
wide geographical area across the Middle East, Africa, Europe and Asia. The new
advanced satellites will eventually replace Al Yah 1 and Al Yah 2, which were
launched in 2011 and 2012, respectively.

Airbus noted that it is currently developing the Thuraya 4 satellite to serve
both Yahsat's UAE government customer and Thuraya's customers. The T4 is also
based on the Eurostar Neo platform. It is due to be launched in the second half
of 2024 and enter service in the second half of 2025.



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