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Helios 2A

Helios II in cleanroom of Astrium. Helios II is the second generation of the European military optical reconnaissance system. A French-Belgian-Spanish partnership programme, the Helios II system, comprising two optical satellites and a user ground segment developed under EADS Astrium prime contractorship, provides a number of key enhancements including higher resolution, infra-red imaging capability for night detection and shorter revisit cycles. The new ground user segment entered service in 2003, and the first new-generation satellite, Helios 2A, was launched by Ariane 5 in December 2004, and Helios 2B, also by Ariane 5, in December 2009. The system also processes data from the still-operational Helios 1A satellite. Helios II marks not only a considerable advance in Europe’s ability to obtain military space observation data, but also a new dimension for European defence. As a result of innovative bilateral international agreements (France-Germany, France-Italy), data access rights will be exchanged between the Helios II optical system and the German SAR-Lupe and Italian COSMO-SkyMed radar systems.