On September 11, it was reported that at the Paris Space Summit held on Thursday local time, Europe announced satellite contracts with a total value of up to 3.9 billion euros (about 30.37 billion yuan), accelerating the development of independent space Internet strategy. Among them, the satellite manufacturing contract for the EU sovereign low orbit constellation IRIS ² has been officially announced, and Eutelsat has announced a significant increase in OneWeb satellite orders, aiming to closely coordinate the future military civilian dual-use IRIS ² with the existing OneWeb network, so that Europe will not rely on SpaceX's Starlink in the future.
In terms of IRIS ² construction, Belgian satellite manufacturer Aerospacelab has won a contract worth 2.4 billion euros to manufacture 264 satellites for the EU IRIS ² constellation, which is the largest single manufacturing share disclosed in the IRIS ² project (accounting for 76% of the total 348 satellites). Calculated based on the total contract amount, the average cost of each satellite is about 70.8617 million yuan. The acquisition of this large-scale order by Aerospacelab, a company that has only been established for 8 years, reflects the constantly evolving pattern of the European aerospace supply chain, where EU official institutions are beginning to invest billions of euros in a young satellite company that is rapidly expanding through the use of a new "super factory" by OnePlus.
In addition, Airbus has signed an initial manufacturing contract with Thales Alenia Aerospace for at least 66 LEO satellites in the first layer of IRIS ², with a contract value of 500 million euros, expected to be delivered in 2029. Among them, Airbus is responsible for the manufacturing of the satellite's physical body, while Thales Alenia Aerospace is responsible for the data transmission payload. This layer is positioned as the "sovereign pillar" of the IRIS ² network, primarily providing secure military Ka band communication capabilities to European defense forces.
Eutelsat has also signed a contract with Airbus Aerospace to design and manufacture at least 66 low orbit satellites for the IRIS ² constellation, with the specific amount yet to be disclosed.
At the same time as launching the IRIS ² construction, Europe will also significantly expand OneWeb's existing network. Eutelsat has signed a new order worth 1 billion euros with Airbus Defense and Aerospace to manufacture 229 OneWeb low orbit satellites at Airbus' Toulouse factory in France, with a cost of approximately 34.01 million yuan per satellite. This batch of satellites will be equipped with advanced digital channelizers to enhance satellite data processing capabilities and network flexibility, while also adding "hosted payloads" to perform specific government or scientific tasks.
This order brings the current number of OneWeb replacement satellites manufactured by Airbus to 669. The first batch of satellites in the previous order is expected to be delivered starting next quarter. At present, OneWeb has over 600 satellites in orbit, and the CEO of Eutelsat expects its number to soon exceed 1000. Due to OneWeb being considered strategically important by the governments of France and the UK, its main service targets include governments, large enterprises, and telecommunications operators. Therefore, this expansion is primarily aimed at meeting the network needs of current commercial and government customers.
From the perspective of construction pace, Europe is forming a path of parallel promotion of "existing network expansion and next-generation sovereign constellation construction". The addition of OneWeb satellite can lead to the expansion of existing network coverage and capacity, while IRIS ² will undertake the task of building future autonomous and secure communication infrastructure in Europe. According to the plan, after IRIS ² is fully launched in the early 2030s, Eutelsat will further promote the integration of these two low orbit networks, and it is expected that the overall data capacity will more than double, while strengthening Europe's firm grasp of satellite communication data sovereignty.
