The overall contract covers EGNOS support and maintenance operations for a period of eight years. As the lead program partner, Thales Alenia Space is responsible for EGNOS maintenance, including obsolescence management and minor upgrades. The aim is to guarantee an optimized service level, as well as to integrate new EGNOS system functions especially for aviation and maritime transport applications. EGNOS, the European Geostationary Navigation Overlay System, is designed to improve the positioning messages supplied by GPS (Global Positioning System).

Thales Alenia Space is the EGNOS prime contractor. EGNOS was deployed starting in 2005, and has been operational in "open service" since 2009. The system's "Safety of Life" service was officially declared operational in March 2011, and enables its use in the aviation sector for landings, as well as precision approaches to European airports, without requiring ground guidance systems.

Building on more than 20 years of experience in this field, Thales Alenia Space is also prime contractor for the Galileo Mission Segment (GMS), the Galileo Security Function (GSF), and Galileo System. Today's contract win also reflects very effective collaboration within the Space Alliance, set up by parent companies Finmeccanica and Thales for the two partners in the Alliance, Telespazio and Thales Alenia Space.