The Italian Ministry of Defense may use two satellites to replace a single existing satellite so that it can use the Italian-led Vega C or Vega E rocket, according to a defense official.

Lt. Col. Luigi Mauro, head of the Italian Ministry of Defence’s Satcom Systems Section, said the Italian government approved last year a replacement for Sicral-1B, a 3,000-kilogram military communications satellite that launched on a Sea Launch Zenit-3SL rocket to geostationary-transfer orbit in 2009.