European Commission awards IRIS2 contracts to Aerospacelab, Thales

TL;DR: The European Commission awarded IRIS2 buildout contracts to Aerospacelab and Thales Alenia Space. Aerospacelab said it will build 264 Low Earth Orbit satellite platforms under a €2.4 billion deal, while Thales Alenia Space said it agreed a deal with Eutelsat to provide governmental payloads for 330 IRIS2 telecoms satellites in LEO worth about €500 million.

The European Commission awarded IRIS2 constellation contracts to Aerospacelab and Thales Alenia Space. Ursula von der Leyen said at the International Space Summit in Paris that IRIS2 is intended to provide resilient communications across Europe, strengthen digital sovereignty, and reduce reliance on non-European satellite systems.

Aerospacelab said it was selected as a key prime contractor for the Low Earth Orbit segment of IRIS2 and will build 264 satellite platforms. The company said the contract is worth €2.4 billion.

Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture of Thales and Leonardo, said it agreed a deal with Eutelsat to provide governmental payloads for 330 IRIS2 telecoms satellites in Low Earth Orbit. The company said the deal is worth around €500 million and that it expects to gain around €3 billion from the project overall.

Thales Alenia Space said about 66 Ka-only telecoms satellites in LEO will launch in 2029, with Airbus Defense and Space providing the platforms. It will also provide government payloads for a further 264 Ku/Ka telecoms satellites scheduled to launch from 2030.