Under the terms of the contract, 835 million euros of the total value will be used for building six automated transfer vehicles (ATF) for the European Space Agency (ESA) with EADS' space transportation unit acting as lead contractor, EADS said.

The six transfer vehicles will supply the station with spare parts, experimental equipment, food and water, and carry away waste.

ISS is run jointly by the Canada, Europe, Japan, Russia and United States.

In Paris, EADS said it would benefit from 20-25 percent of the total value of the contract.

"We will be bringing in about 30 suppliers to cover the bulk of the contract... The direct value to EADS is about 20-25 percent of the contract over about 10 years," EADS space transportation's Mathias Spude said.

The contract allows a flexible production schedule for the ATVs, running until 2013. Production has already begun, EADS space said.

The entire project would comprise 30 companies from 10 countries across Europe as well as eight companies from Russia and the United States.

Included within that would be a new joint venture formed for the life of the contract between EADS space transportation and Italian group Finmeccanica's space division Alenia Spazio.

The planned ATVs have a launch weight of about 20 tonnes and are about 10 metres long (33 feet). They will be used to raise the altitude of the ISS, and at the end of their mission will carry waste from the space station and will burn up on re-entry into the earth's atmosphere.

The ATVs will be launched by the Ariane 5 space craft.

SPACE.WIRE