Overview
- On Thursday, Sept. 10, two contract milestones were disclosed that materially advance the IRIS² rollout and clarify who will build and equip much of the constellation.
- Belgium’s Aerospacelab won a €2.4 billion contract to design, manufacture and deliver 264 satellites for the Eutelsat-led SpaceRISE concession, representing about 76% of the planned 348-satellite fleet.
- Thales Alenia Space secured a roughly €500 million tranche to supply government payloads for 330 Eutelsat satellites, with those payloads designed for in-orbit traffic routing, active interference management and secure end-to-end links.
- The programme schedule remains unchanged, with the first 66 satellites due for launch starting in 2029 and services targeted around 2030 under the EU concession model managed by SpaceRISE.
- The contracts strengthen a Europe-based alternative to non-European systems but could face higher aggregate costs and capability fragmentation because Germany is pursuing its own national military satellite initiative.