Brussels, 19/09/2008 (Agence Europe) - Two German companies, the German subsidiary of EADS Astrium and OHB System, have been selected as candidates for setting in place the space segment of the European satellite radionavigation system, Galileo. Arianespace, of France, has been chosen for the launcher segment. The European Commission and the European Space Agency (ESA) have made their choice out of the 21 industrial companies that had sent a request for participation further to the call for a display of interest launched on 1 July for the first complete Galileo constellation (see EUROPE 9690). According to the press release published on Friday 19 September by the Commission, the candidates selected are, by sector: - engineering support: Thales AleniaSpace (Italy) and Logica (Netherlands); - ground system support: ThalesAleniaSpace (France) and Logica (UK); - ground control system: Astrium (UK) and Groupement G-Nav represented by Lockheed Martin IS&S (UK); - operations: Nav-up grouping represented by Inmarsat (UK) and DLR (Germany) and Telespazio (Italy); - space segment: Astrium (Germany) and OHB System (Germany); - and launch services: Arianespace (France). (A.By./transl.jl)