Arianespace and ArianeGroup kick off production for the final 10 Ariane 5 launchers across Europe’s space industry in parallel to the operational debut of Ariane 6 01-09-2018 |  3 minutes

The decision announced today follows the commitment made by Arianespace in December 2016 to initiate the procurement of long lead items (LLI). It also allows ArianeGroup, industrial prime contractor for the development and operation of the Ariane 5 and Ariane 6 launchers – as well as its European partners (over 600 companies in 13 countries¹, including some 350 small and medium-size enterprises) – to start initial production activity for these additional launchers.

This new batch also guarantees the durability for launch service offerings by the European operator Arianespace for institutional and commercial clients until the end of the transition phase with Ariane 6 – with this launcher’s full operational capacity to be reached by 2023. Ariane 5, which chalked up its 82nd successful launch in a row in December 2017, has undergone continuous performance improvements since the beginning of the Ariane 5 ECA program. As a result, Ariane 5 set a new record in June 2017 by lofting 10,865 kg. into geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). From this payload lift record, Ariane 5’s performance will be increased another 250 kg. by 2020 as part of an ESA-funded program – with the  PC production batch taking full advantage of the improvement.