Belgian aerospace firm Sabca signs 85m euros contract for Ariane 6 rocket parts
Belgian aerospace company Sabca has on Monday signed a contract worth 85 million euros with the French company ArianeGroup for the production of so-called Thrust Vector Actuation Systems (TVAS) for Ariane 6 rockets. The production will take place at Sabca's Brussels facility in Haren.
The TVAS system is an essential component of rockets as it enables precise control in flight and thus ensures the success of missions. Sabca Technologies is no novice in this field: the Belgian company has expertise in high-precision aerospace systems and has been a partner of ArianeGroup for about fifty years.
Its TVAS systems have been used in rockets since the Ariane 4 programme and will now also be used for launches 16 to 42 of Ariane 6. Sabca initially developed these TVAS for Belgian F-16s, before transferring them to the aerospace and civil aviation sectors.
The contract signed on Monday aims to continue this collaboration, as ArianeGroup seeks to increase the pace of its launches. The signing “also confirms our position as a key industrial partner for Europe's sovereign access to space,” said Samuel Weynants, general manager of Sabca Technologies. Given the geopolitical context, this autonomous access is essential, he noted.
Production will take place at Sabca's Brussels facility in Haren. Between 80 and 100 employees will be involved in the Ariane 6 project there.
Return on investment
The signing ceremony took place in the presence of the federal minister of scientific policy, Vanessa Matz. She welcomed the agreement as a strong signal of the return on the Belgian public investment in the European space sector.
“It would be heresy not to invest in space at a time when there is a whole ecosystem in Belgium that depends on it, with very specific know-how and expertise. Every euro invested in the European Space Agency (ESA) brings a return of three euros for our economy,” she insisted.
“I am asking for an exception, in line with the defence budgets"
Belgium is the fifth largest contributor to the ESA budget and, as such, the largest of the “small’ countries. For Matz, “it is essential not to reduce the contribution” at a time when the federal government is in the midst of budget negotiations. “I am asking for an exception, in line with the defence budgets,” explained the minister.
The Sabca plant in Brussels © BELGA PHOTO JAMES ARTHUR GEKIERE
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