IRIS2 Gets Green Light With More Money and More Satellites
The European Commission, ESA and the SpaceRISE consortium have completed a key review of Europe’s IRIS2 secure communications constellation, clearing the programme to move forward with full-scale implementation. The completion of the review was announced on 7 August following neg
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!Development of Europe’s IRIS2 secure communications service has reached a key milestone, allowing the programme to move forward with implementation.Credit: European Commission
The European Commission, ESA and the SpaceRISE consortium have completed a key review of Europe’s IRIS2 secure communications constellation, clearing the programme to move forward with full-scale implementation.
The completion of the review was announced on 7 August following negotiations that began in January. The review was used to validate the programme’s costs, technical requirements and delivery timelines. According to the European Commission, the agreement establishes a roadmap for development, production, and deployment, with the first satellites expected to launch in 2029.
When the initial concession contract was signed in December 2024, IRIS2 was expected to comprise 290 satellites, cost €10.55 billion, and offering initial capacity in 2030. According to a 7 August Hispasat release, the total planned investment now exceeds €15.6 billion. A total of €11.6 billion will come from public funding provided by the European Commission and the European Space Agency. The three SpaceRISE consortium partners, Hispasat, SES, and Eutelsat, will collectively invest up to €4 billion.
In addition to changes to the budget, the size of the constellation has also changed. A European Commission release explained that the revised constellation would comprise 348 satellites, including 330 in low Earth orbit and 18 in medium Earth orbit. This figure was contradicted by the Hispasat release, which put the total at 342 satellites, with the difference attributable to six fewer MEO satellites. While the 7 August SES release does not provide a total constellation size, it confirms that the MEO segment will comprise 18 satellites, which is consistent with the Commission’s breakdown. Additionally, a 7 August Eutelsat release stated that the LEO component would include 264 dual Mil-Ka/Ku-band satellites and 66 Mil-Ka-band satellites, for a total of 330, again consistent with the Commission’s breakdown.
All three primes have detailed their contributions to the €4 billion commitment from the project’s industrial partners. The SES release stated that it had committed up to €1.35 billion to the MEO segment. Hispasat announced an investment of up to €600 million in exchange for exploitation rights in regions of strategic and commercial interest. Finally, Eutelsat stated that it would contribute €2.23 billion. While Eutelsat’s figure may have changed in the intervening months, the disclosed commitments together total approximately €4.18 billion, a hair over the €4 billion approximation.
In a 7 August statement, the European Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, explained that the bloc would be “accelerating the delivery of early defence and secure services” and that the network would be brought into operation “ahead of schedule.” Kubilius had previously said in January that he was confident initial IRIS2 services could be deployed by 2029, a year earlier than previously planned. The following month, he committed to delivering a “first simplified version” of IRIS2 by 2029. The 7 August announcement now confirms that “operational connectivity services” will be progressively deployed from 2029 onwards.
Though the claim tracks with Kubilius’s earlier statements, it is difficult to place much weight on an acceleration that could amount to little more than a handful of months when the programme’s budget has grown by roughly 50% since the €10.55 billion concession contract was signed in 2024.
Update: This article was updated on 8 August to include the information from Eutelsat’s 7 August release.
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