The “government-to-government” transaction was ratified by Peruvian Defense Minister Pedro Cateriano and France’s ambassador in Lima, Jean-Jacques Beaussou.

Besides the satellite, the purchase agreement includes a ground control station and the transfer of key technologies.

The spacecraft will be built by Airbus Space Systems on the Astrobus 300 platform.

Peru plans to use the satellite for a range of purposes, including national security and monitoring natural phenomena, officials said.

The satellite will give Peru “security and independence that guarantees development and a better future for all,” Cateriano said after the signing.

France also undertakes to ensure that the satellite is launched and placed in the correct orbit, the defense minister said.

Pending the launch, set for May 2016, Paris will begin providing Peru with imagery captured by its own satellites, Cateriano said.

President Ollanta Humala announced on taking office in 2011 that he intended to acquire a surveillance satellite for the Andean nation.

Peru currently operates several small satellites assembled by domestic universities for scientific observation. Those spacecraft were launched atop U.S. and Russian rockets.