Istanbul, Madrid, Thales Alenia Space, the joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%), and C Tech Information Technologies Industry and Trade Inc. (CTech), a subsidiary of Turkish Aerospace Industries, have announced today their agreement to collaborate in the field of satellite communications systems. Through this collaboration, CTech aims at climbing up the satellite value chain by underpinning its system integration capacities and accessing the communication satellite export market, while Thales Alenia Space aims at reinforcing its presence in the Turkish space market and developing its supply chain. 

CTech operates in the Defence, Aerospace, Telecommunication and Cyber Security markets, with experience in the design of communication systems and radiofrequency (RF) equipment. Its space portfolio includes RF equipment, spanning telemetry transmitters, command receivers, antennas and waveguide components. The company is responsible for the Tracking, Telemetry and Command (TT&C) subsystem for TURKSAT 6A program. CTech also provides solutions for mobile and secure satellite communication terminals that can be used on both unmanned and manned aircraft, land and sea vehicles. CTech became a subsidiary company of Turkish Aerospace Industries in 2018. 

Thales Alenia Space in Spain is a worldwide reference in the field of satellite communications systems, having 32 years of experience in the design and production of RF equipment and communications systems, with over 4.000 units delivered for 600 satellites. Over the last 15 years, the company has developed competencies as a recognized leader and integrator of satellite communications systems, both in Europe and overseas. It’s strong heritage in the field of Tracking, Telemetry and Command (TT&C) and data transmission systems for all type of space missions includes missions in Low Earth Orbit (Sentinel 1-2-3, FLEX, CHIME, ROSE-L), geostationary orbit (GEO-KOMPSAT-2, MTG), the Moon (KPLO, NOVA-C lunar lander, VIPER lunar rover), space telescopes orbiting around the L2 Lagrangian point (Herschel, Planck, Euclid, WFIRST, PLATO) and missions to asteroids (HERA), up to 500 million kilometres away from Earth. The company is also responsible for the UHF and Ka-band telecommunication payloads on SPAINSAT NG satellites. 

Thales Alenia Space’s own experience in Spain in the evolution from equipment supplier to system and payload integrator in the field of satellite communications is key to support the development of local industries capacities in other countries. A good example is GEO-KOMPSAT-2 program in South Korea, in which Thales Alenia Space in Spain was responsible for delivering the communications systems for two meteorological satellites, while supporting the involvement and development of Korea’s local industries. 

The company was recognized with the “Award of Excellence” by the Korea Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) for its outstanding contribution to the GEO-KOMPSAT-2 programme. 

CTech and Thales Alenia Space have already initiated their collaboration in the frame of a communication satellite export program, in which CTech is providing radiofrequency designs to Thales Alenia Space in Spain. With this cooperation, CTech realized the first export of components for a satellite system from Turkey.