RUAG to develop payload fairing for Ariane 6

The contract includes delivery of the flight model for the first launch of an Ariane 6 in 2020 to Airbus Safran Launchers who is the prime contractor for the new European launcher. In Ariane 6, the European space industry is currently developing a new family of competitive, versatile launch vehicles that will secure autonomous European access to space for the next three decades while maintaining Ariane’s competitive edge in the commercial market. Because the two versions of Ariane 6 (A62 and A64) will be capable of transporting both light and heavy satellites, they will be ideally equipped to meet the needs of the satellite market. Ariane 6’s maiden flight is planned for 2020, with the launch frequency set to rise to up to twelve flights a year by 2023. The carbon-fibre payload fairing developed by RUAG Space measures roughly 20 metres in length and forms the tip of the rocket. It gives Ariane its aerodynamic form and is designed to protect the satellites before launch and during the flight through the atmosphere. RUAG Space has been an industrial partner in the Ariane programme from the very beginning, and on the first flight of an Ariane rocket on 24 December 1979, the payload fairing was made in Switzerland. Since then, Ariane rockets have had RUAG fairings without exception. Even the small European Vega launcher and the American Atlas V rocket fly with payload fairings made by RUAG Space.