Sharon Taylor, the Labour and Co-Operative Party candidate for Stevenage, has today welcomed the news that the government will invest a further �400m into their contract with EADS Astrium. The contract extension will enable the communications satellite,

Sharon Taylor, the Labour and Co-Operative Party candidate for Stevenage, has today welcomed the news that the government will invest a further �400m into their contract with EADS Astrium. The contract extension will enable the communications satellite, Skynet 5D to be completed and launched, meaning 100 new jobs and securing 800 existing posts.

The Skynet 5D is the fourth satellite of it's kind to be used by the MoD and is roughly three times the length of a double decker bus. It will be launched in 2013 and play a key role in intelligence gathering operations. The satellite will also be used to provide telephone and internet welfare support facilities for Service personnel on operations.

The announcement, made by the Minister for Defence Equipment and Support at the Ministry of Defence, Quentin Davis MP, takes the total contract between the government and Paridigm (a wholly owned subsidiary of Astrium) to �3.5bn and will allow them to expand their workforce in Stevenage, Portsmouth and Corsham.

Sharon said:

"It is brilliant news that the government is investing more money in state of the art technologies, especially as it will mean more jobs in Stevenage. This is another example, like the recent GSK Bioscience Park announcement, of government investment directly boosting jobs in our town.