Turkey To Launch 2 Communication Satellites In 2 Years - Erdogan

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced plans on Thursday to launch two communication satellites in two years

ANKARA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 16th January, 2020) Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced plans on Thursday to launch two communication satellites in two years.

"We have launched a project for the production of TURKSAT 5A and 5B satellites in order to improve the quality of communications in our country. We will launch the TURKSAT 5A satellite in the third quarter of 2020. The first domestic satellite TURKSAT 6A will be completed this year and launched into space in 2021," Erdogan said in Ankara at a conference on the results of the development of the country's economy in 2019.

He noted that Turkey will become one of the 10 countries producing its own communications satellites, adding that Ankara will announce a national space program in the first half of 2020.

The Turkish reconnaissance satellite Gokturk-1 was successfully launched in December 2016 from the Kourou Space Center in French Guiana. This satellite, worth 261.5 million Euros ($290 million), was developed in Italy, while its installation and testing were carried out in Turkey.