4C Controls Inc. and Telespazio, a Finmeccanica/Thales company, announced at the Paris-Le Bourget Air Show that, based on the principles established in the strategic alliance agreement signed by their respective affiliates 4C Satimage and e-GEOS in January 2009 for the commercialization of COSMO-SkyMed synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite data in the Middle East, North Africa and South East Asia (MENASEA) region and in order to further strengthen their alliance, they are currently in discussion to enter into a joint investment in the areas of very high resolution (50 cm) optical satellite remote sensing and other strategic operational areas.
The Gulf Satellites program, which will be funded and owned mostly by investors of the Gulf region, foresees the development and construction of two high resolution (1m) SAR (Synthetic Aperture Radar) satellites and a high resolution (0.5m) optical satellite.