The decision comes when Israel Aerospace Industries has not yet received an order from the Space Communications company for the Amos 8 satellite, and it is now unclear what will happen to it, since it will take the Israeli anchor customers from Space Communications
IAI will develop and build the "Dror 1" communications satellite - which will actually compete with the Amos series of satellites it has produced so far for the Communications Space Company. The Aerospace Industry stated that Dror 1 is designed to meet the satellite communication needs of the State of Israel for about 15 years. "Dror 1 is largely based on blue and white technologies developed in the aerospace industry, which include advanced digital communications equipment and "smartphone in space" capabilities that allow communication flexibility throughout its years of activity in space. "
The current announcement is a continuation of the agreement signed between the government and the aviation industry in recent days following the government's decision from September 2018 to promote a long-term strategy in the field of communication satellites in Israel. The government's decision was made as part of the understanding that this is an essential capability of the State of Israel and that it is required to maintain complete independence in this field at the same time as preserving the knowledge and expertise accumulated over the years in Israel. Halal Communications is a public company, parts of which are in foreign hands. In fact, it was supposed to be sold to a Chinese company shortly before the loss of the satellites Amos 5 (which stopped functioning in orbit) and Amos 6 (which exploded on the launcher during fueling about two days before the planned launch).
The Space Communications Company was initially established as a subsidiary of the Aerospace Industry that was intended to sell the services of the Amos 1 satellite. Indeed, in addition to Israeli customers - for government use and Yes customer service, it also sold receivers to customers in Africa and Europe. Later it was the owner of the additional Amos satellites, three more of which were developed and built in the aerospace industry (Amos 2,3, 4 and 3 which operated in space for years - Amos 4 and Amos 6 are still operating and Amos 2016 which as mentioned exploded in 5) later it ordered satellites from other suppliers - Amos 17 from Russia and the recently launched Amos 8 was built by Boeing. This is the reason for the tension between the aviation industry, which was interested in preserving the knowledge it had developed in the field of communication satellites, and a communication satellite as a stock exchange company sought to build the satellites at the lowest possible price. Attempts to get the government to subsidize the Amos XNUMX satellite, in order to compare its price to a space company for production elsewhere (production in Israel is more expensive due to the fact that practically every satellite is redeveloped and it is not possible to divide the expenses between many satellites as manufacturers such as Boeing do.
The satellite will be developed in the Missile and Space Systems Division of the Aerospace Industry, which believes in developing and building air defense systems such as the Barak 8, the Arrow 2+3 weapon system, missile systems, advanced satellite systems such as observation satellites, nano satellites, satellite launchers and the Bereshit spacecraft that reached the moon this year and more . The Aerospace Industry is a national center of knowledge in the fields of radars, satellites, unmanned vehicles, civil aviation and cyber.
VP of the Aerospace Industry and Director of the Missile and Space Systems Division, Boaz Levy: "IAI, the space house of the State of Israel, is proud to develop and build Dror 1 - the next communication satellite of the State of Israel for the benefit of the essential satellite communication capabilities required for our country. The completion of this agreement reflects fruitful cooperation with the government ministries engaged in this activity. In recent years the Aerospace Industry has invested its own research and development budgets and many efforts to preserve the capabilities of the communication satellites in Israel and in the development of the future communication satellite. We are happy to launch with "Dror 1" - the most advanced Israeli communication satellite ever built in Israel, which includes many "blue and white" technologies and has the most advanced digital capabilities. This agreement brings to light the forefront of technology in the field of space and the knowledge, experience and capabilities accumulated over decades in the aerospace industry for the benefit of all future satellite users in the State of Israel."
We asked for a response from Chalal Communications, but it was not received by the time the news was closed. In the "Maya" messaging system of the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange The company did not update anything on the essential issue for it, in the last two days the company distributed three announcements, two of which deal with the interest on the bonds of Halal Communications and the third, that the CEO of Halal Communications, David Polak, ceased to be an interest in the company.
More of the topic in Hayadan:
- Space Communications canceled the contract for the production of Amos 8 in the USA, and with a high probability of transferring it to the aviation industry
- Chalal Communications fears the consequences of possible competition from the aerospace industry
- After the communication space announcement of the purchase of Amos 8 from L'Oreal, IAA will build a communication satellite and market it itself
