The first of the two new launches will occur in the last quarter of 2025 from the Kourou space base in French Guiana, Arianespace said in a statement.
The contract includes an option for a third launch, it added.
Italian aerospace manufacturer Avio makes the Vega and Vega-C rockets for the multinational European Space Agency (ESA), the consortium of European partner states that oversees some operations of Arianespace.
The rockets have had a "totally unacceptable" rate of failure, with three of eight launches of the Vega and Vega-C ending in failure, ESA director of space transportation Daniel Neuenschwander said.
The failures triggered the grounding of the Vega program while a commission of inquiry undertook a probe.
The commission reported last week that the December 20, 2022, failure of the Vega-C launch was due to a flawed carbon composite nozzle subcontracted to a Ukrainian company, Yozhnoye.
The new supplier of the nozzle is Arianegroup, the prime contractor of the Ariane 6 launch system.
The Vega-C launch vehicle will be used for the first deployments of the $1.1 billion Iride Earth observation satellites for coastal surveillance, fire prevention and air quality monitoring. The Iride program is an initiative of the Italian government.
The Vega-C is a newer, more powerful version of the Vega rocket.
The contract is "excellent news," Stephane Israel, president of Arianespace, told AFP.
The Vega-C "is perfectly suited to serve the Earth observation market because of its higher performance and versatility," Israel said.
mra/led/tjj/bgs
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