France Orders Two Iris Spy Satellites From Airbus and Thales Alenia Space for Over EUR 1.5 Billion
Paris, 9 November 2026
Key points
- France's armament directorate (DGA) notified the Iris contract to Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space on 5 November; two satellites replace the three CSO by 2035, the first in service around 2033
- Airbus puts the contract, which runs to the end of the 2030s, at more than EUR 1.5 billion; it covers both satellites, the ground segments and in-orbit operations
- Iris images day and night, in the visible and infrared, at extremely high resolution, and can image objects in space
- The DGA says Iris is open to cooperation; Musis, the CSO system, has eight European partners. Iris is unrelated to IRIS² and IRIS-T
France has ordered the successor to its optical reconnaissance satellites: two Iris satellites, built by Airbus and Thales Alenia Space, to take over from the three CSO by 2035.
Airbus leads and supplies both platforms, a significant share of the first satellite's payload and the ground segment; Thales Alenia Space develops a next-generation payload for the second. The CSO satellites went up in 2018, 2020 and 2025, so the first will have been some fifteen years in orbit when the first Iris enters service. The DGA promises better image quality and faster delivery of images to the forces, not more satellites.
CSO's third satellite was ordered after Germany joined the programme; Iris starts at two, on France's budget. The CSO contract of 2010 carried an option for a third satellite, activated after Germany joined in 2015, Airbus says. Iris is sized by France's updated military programming law, and “open to cooperation” offers access, not a third hull. The most likely buyer on the 2015 precedent is spending at home: Berlin pays EUR 1.7 billion for exclusive access to the SPOCK 1 radar constellation, and its 2027 budget adds money for missile warning from orbit, as Signal No. 187 reported. Signal No. 186 carried the Iris award. A partner paying for a third Iris would repeat 2015; partners buying images from a two-satellite French fleet would become clients.
