Toulouse: The IRIS² satellite constellation has grown from about 290 satellites to 348, after the European Commission and the SpaceRISE consortium signed the programme’s implementation agreement on 7 August 2026. The deal closes the negotiating round that followed the 12-year concession signed in December 2024, and it moves the secure connectivity project from design to construction.
The new plan combines 330 satellites in low Earth orbit with 18 in medium Earth orbit, and it adds a defence and security layer in low Earth orbit. The Commission says secure governmental capacity rises by 60 percent inside the Union and by 54 percent worldwide. First launches are targeted for 2029, with services starting progressively from that year.
Defence Commissioner Andrius Kubilius pushed the same date in public on 12 October at the Warsaw Security Forum. He called the IRIS² satellite constellation a European Starlink and said the EU must launch its first phase by 2029. He cited the risk of losing access to American military systems as a reason for speed.
Industry is already positioned to deliver. SpaceRISE brings together SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat, and the manufacturers named around the programme include Airbus Defence and Space, Thales Alenia Space, OHB and the Belgian company Aerospacelab. Handelsblatt reported, without official confirmation, that Aerospacelab received about 264 satellites under a contract worth roughly €1.8 billion.
Money remains the open question for the IRIS² satellite constellation. The Commission has not published the cost of the extra investment and expects funding from the 2028 to 2034 EU budget, from member states and from partner countries. Poland has committed €656 million, Hungary €500 million and Spain has announced between €1.6 billion and €2 billion.
Earlier reporting put the cost of the 290-satellite design at roughly €10.6 billion at contract signature, with about €6 billion coming from the EU budget and the rest from the European Space Agency and the private consortium. That figure now looks like a floor. A larger IRIS² satellite constellation with a defence layer will almost certainly cost more, and negotiators in the budget talks know it.
The politics of the IRIS² satellite constellation matter as much as the engineering. Governments want an independent route for encrypted communications, and the project gives them one that does not depend on a foreign operator. Critics will ask whether a state-backed network can match the price and speed of commercial rivals that already operate thousands of satellites.
Josef Aschbacher, Director General of the European Space Agency, called the agreement a clear answer to Europe’s need for sovereign and secure connectivity. The coming months will show whether detailed satellite design and launch contracts stay on schedule. For now, the IRIS² satellite constellation is the largest single bet in European space policy, and its 2029 start date is the benchmark every partner will be judged against.
