IRIS² Low-Orbit Segment Goes to Contract: Aerospacelab Builds 264 Satellites for EUR 2.4 Billion, Airbus the First 66 for Delivery in 2029
Paris, 10 September 2026
Key points
- Aerospacelab, founded in Belgium in 2018, announced on 10 September a EUR 2.4 billion contract as prime contractor for the IRIS² low-orbit segment: 264 satellite platforms and delivery of the fully integrated satellites by 2030, 76 per cent of the 348-satellite constellation
- Airbus Defence and Space signed the initial contract with Eutelsat, which leads the low-orbit segment inside the SpaceRISE consortium, for at least 66 satellites forming the first layer, delivery in 2029; Airbus builds the platforms in Toulouse and integrates payloads from Thales Alenia Space, and calls the layer the "sovereign pillar" delivering military Ka-band to European users
- ESUT reports Aerospacelab's 20,000-square-metre Charleroi plant starting production within months at up to 500 satellites a year in the 150-kilogram to one-tonne class; the Airbus value is undisclosed, and ESUT's EUR 1.8 billion for the 66 is its own estimate
- The 18 medium-orbit satellites went to OHB for about EUR 1 billion on 31 August; with Friday's contracts every layer of IRIS² has a manufacturer and a delivery year
The IRIS² constellation's low-orbit segment passed from allocation to contract at the Paris International Space Summit on 10 September: Aerospacelab takes 264 satellites for EUR 2.4 billion with launches from 2030, and Airbus signs for the first 66, the military Ka-band layer, for delivery in 2029.
The implementation agreements reported in August had already assigned Aerospacelab up to 264 low-orbit satellites and Airbus the 66-satellite government tranche. The summit added the instrument and the numbers. Aerospacelab's release, which chief executive Benoît Deper calls "a deliberate industrial choice", names EUR 2.4 billion and completion by 2030 and describes a megafactory the company is finishing; ESUT places it at Charleroi, 20,000 square metres, production starting within months at up to 500 satellites a year. For a company eight years old, it is the largest disclosed manufacturing allocation in the programme.
Airbus's contract runs through Eutelsat, which leads the low-orbit segment inside SpaceRISE. The first layer is at least 66 satellites, built and integrated in Toulouse, where Airbus has brought OneWeb-class production back to Europe, with Thales Alenia Space supplying the payloads. Airbus calls the layer the sovereign pillar of the project, carrying military Ka-band for European government users, and sets delivery in 2029. It does not disclose a value; ESUT's EUR 1.8 billion is the publication's estimate. The 66-satellite layer is this year's addition, and ESUT reports it raises protected government capacity within the EU by 60 per cent. With OHB's 18 medium-orbit satellites contracted on 31 August, the 348 are now 264, 66 and 18.
The government layer is dated 2029 and the mass segment 2030, so the layer that justifies the programme's defence label arrives first and on the better-tested supply chain. Airbus and Thales Alenia Space have built government satellites before; Aerospacelab has to build a factory and 264 satellites in the same window, and the schedule risk of IRIS² has moved from the concession, which slipped through 2024, to a Belgian production line that does not yet run at that rate. No launcher is named for any of the 330 low-orbit satellites, a gap Signal No. 144 set beside Pistorius's call at the same summit for a European super-heavy launcher; a launch-services contract for the first tranche is the next instrument, and the one most likely to carry a non-European name.
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