Airbus Defense and Space is to continue to operate Germany's military communications satellites under a seven-year contract worth $159.3 million.

The award for operating the SATCOMBw secure satellite communications system was issued by the procurement agency of German Armed Forces, or BAAINBw.

Airbus DS has operated the system since 2006.

"We are proud to support German armed forces for its worldwide missions and to keep managing the operation after our successful delivery of the SATCOMBw system," said Stefan Gramolla, head of SATCOMBw program at Airbus Defense and Space.

This contract, renewed for the next 7 1/2 years, includes the in-orbit operation of the military COMSATBw-1 and COMSATBw-2 satellites as well as the operation of their teleport and associated networks in Weilheim, Germany.

COMSATBw-1 and COMSATBw-2 give the German armed forces -- in operation with military UHF and X-band plus -- additional capacity in C and Ku-band.

The SATCOMBw program also provides a secure ground communications network and control system, with command centers, vehicles, aircraft and ships deployed around the world linked directly into the base communications networks for voice, video, database access and Internet Protocol services.