OHB Takes a EUR 1 Billion IRIS² Contract From SES for 18 Medium-Orbit Satellites, Launches From 2029
Bremen, 31 August 2026
Key points
- OHB signed a contract worth roughly EUR 1 billion with satellite operator SES to build 18 medium-Earth-orbit satellite platforms for IRIS²
- Each platform is about 15 kilowatts and roughly 2.6 tonnes launch mass; first launches are planned for 2029, with services from 2030
- SES holds the MEO segment within the SpaceRISE consortium, alongside Eutelsat and Hispasat, under the implementation agreement signed 7 August
- OHB chief executive Marco Fuchs: IRIS² "will be a significant step forward for Europe's independence" in secure satellite communications
- This is the first of IRIS²'s three segments to move from allocation to a signed manufacturing contract; the low-orbit (Aerospacelab) and military-dedicated (Airbus) assignments remain unsigned
OHB signed a roughly EUR 1 billion contract with SES on 31 August to build 18 satellites for IRIS²'s medium-Earth-orbit layer — first launches 2029, service from 2030 — the first of the constellation's three segments to convert from an allocation on paper into a signed manufacturing contract.
The 24-day interval between the 7 August implementation agreement and this contract is the more consequential figure than the platform specifications. Each satellite runs about 15 kilowatts and roughly 2.6 tonnes at launch, built for SES's slice of a 348-satellite constellation run by the SpaceRISE consortium — SES on the medium-orbit layer, Eutelsat and Hispasat on the rest. What the implementation agreement assigned in outline, this contract now dates and prices: a named manufacturer, a value and a launch window specific enough to be missed.
The other two segments have not moved. Aerospacelab's allocation of up to 264 low-Earth-orbit satellites, worth at least EUR 1.8 billion, and Airbus's 66 military-dedicated spacecraft remain assignments rather than contracts. Großwald's record of the implementation agreement flagged the low-orbit layer's 330-satellite build against the 2029 date as the constellation's binding constraint, since no European launch cadence at that volume has been demonstrated; OHB's contract does not touch it — the medium-orbit layer is a fraction of the total spacecraft count.
Money has now moved on one segment of three, and the fear it answers dates to June. France's DGA booked priority access to the commercial OneWeb constellation for up to EUR 350 million that month because IRIS² risked slipping toward 2035, and Poland committed EUR 656 million in July to a programme still carrying that schedule risk. Großwald's Signal No. 135 logged the OHB contract as status changing, not the underlying split: until the low-orbit segment signs, IRIS²'s schedule rests on the fraction of the constellation that has a contract behind it.
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