OREANDA-NEWS. November 24, 2011. ISS-Reshetnev and Thales Alenia Space signed a Memorandum of Understanding specifying requirements and steps towards the creation of a joint venture.

The document was signed in Moscow in the presence of Russia’s Prime Minister Vladimir Putin, his French counterpart Francois Fillon, Roscosmos’s head Vladimir Popovkin and Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of France to Russia Jean de Gliniasty.

The two companies have agreed on a framework and schedule for further negotiations over the joint venture which will carry out satellite payload assembly and integration as well as developing a new platform and necessary equipement for high-powered satellites.

The aim of the companies’ collaborative initiatives is to increase the competitive advantage of space-technology products and their commercialization in the national and international markets.

With ISS-Reshetnev-Thales Alenia Space cooperation spanning 18 years, the two companies have implemented as many as 14 joint satellite project including the Siberian -European satellite SESAT, 4 Express-A and 6 Express-AM satellites, the AMOS-5 telecommunications spacecraft, the Loutch-5A data relay satellite and the Geo-IK-2 geodetic satellite.

At present another 10 joint projects are undergoing different stages of manufacture.