New Delhi, September 14 (APAC Media): Indian space-tech company Dhruva Space and France-based Safran Space have signed contracts worth more than €5 million as part of a larger project to build and deploy 275 satellites.
The agreement was announced at the two-day International Space Summit in Paris, which concluded on Thursday. The partnership will also support technologies planned for India’s 52-satellite Space-Based Surveillance Phase-III (SBS-III) programme.
Under the agreement, Safran Space will source communication systems, inertial navigation units, optical payloads and ground stations from Dhruva Space.
These technologies are expected to support India’s efforts to strengthen real-time, all-weather surveillance along its borders and across the Indian Ocean Region.
The SBS-III project, approved by the Cabinet Committee on Security in October 2024, involves deploying 52 satellites between 2026 and 2030 with a budget of Rs 26,968 crore. ISRO will build 21 satellites, while the remaining satellites will be developed by private Indian companies.
Dhruva Space has also been developing a 280,000-square-foot design, engineering, assembly, integration and testing facility in Shamshabad, Hyderabad, to support its growing satellite programmes.
The company said the collaboration with Safran will strengthen its Satellite Bus as a Service programme and its planned global ground station network.
The summit also saw other India-France space partnerships. French launch-services provider RIDE! signed an agreement to launch two satellites for Hyderabad-based space-tech start-up TakeMeToSpace, which is developing orbital data centres.
French satellite manufacturer U-Space also partnered with Indian engineering services company AXISCADES to explore opportunities in India’s microsatellite market under the Make in India initiative.
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