The European Space Agency (ESA) has chosen Airbus as the prime contractor to develop the latest satellite-based augmentation system (SBAS), European Geostationary Navigation Overlay Service (EGNOS V3).

In order to develop the EGNOS V3, Airbus will lead a consortium of partners from France, Germany, Spain and Switzerland.

As part of the 6.5-year contract, Airbus will mainly involve in the development, integration, deployment and preparation of EGNOS V3 operations, as well as the overall performance of the system and the central processing facility.

“The signature of this contract is the result of more than five years of intense teamwork and investment.”

Approximately 100 people and 20 subcontractors are expected to work on developing the EGNOS V3 system.

Airbus Space Systems head Nicolas Chamussy said: “This programme is strategic for Airbus to strengthen our position in the navigation field.

“The signature of this contract is the result of more than five years of intense teamwork and investment.

“With our consortium, we bring a large pool of resources and experience in Europe covering the successful development of critical and secure ground segment.”

Once developed, the EGNOS V3 is expected to provide improved safety of life (SoL) services to the aviation community, as well as other new services to the maritime and land users.

EGNOS V3 will be developed by ESA for the European Commission and the European GNSS Agency (GSA).

The system also intends to improve the accuracy and availability of user-positioning services from the current global navigation satellite systems, namely Galileo and GPS.

It also aims to offer critical integrity messages to EGNOS users with alerts within a few seconds in case of system degradation, thereby enabling it to function as one of the leading GNSS systems in future.

Following its launch, the EGNOS V3 will be the first operational SBAS using the dual frequency and multi-constellation world standard, with both GPS and Galileo satellites.

It will replace the EGNOS V2 programme that has been in operation since 2011, as well as improve protection against the growing security risks, especially in the field of cyber-security.