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OHB has been awarded a contract worth nearly €1 billion for the development and production of eighteen satellite platforms for the EU’s IRIS² Secure Connectivity Programme

August 31, 2026

OHB has signed a contract worth nearly €1 billion with European satellite operator SES for the development and production of eighteen medium Earth orbit (MEO) satellite platforms for the EU’s IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) Secure Connectivity Programme.

SES is leading the delivery of the MEO segment of IRIS² within the SpaceRISE consortium, which has been selected by the European Commission to develop and deploy the infrastructure required for the program. In addition to SES, the consortium includes EUTELSAT and HISPASAT.

The contract signing follows the official launch of the program’s implementation phase on August 6, 2026. This is the first major contract awarded under the IRIS² concession.

IRIS² is Europe’s response to the growing need for secure, resilient and sovereign satellite communication capabilities. The system will comprise a constellation of 348 satellites operating in low Earth orbit (LEO) and MEO. This multi-orbit architecture offers the advantage of requiring significantly fewer satellites to achieve global coverage than a purely LEO-based constellation, while still ensuring low signal latency. In addition, the system will include a dedicated ground segment secured according to European standards.

Since the beginning of the program, OHB has been a key technology partner of the SpaceRISE consortium and a member of its industrial core team. The eighteen satellite platforms now awarded to OHB, which the company will develop and build for SES, will form a central element of IRIS²’s MEO infrastructure. Each MEO satellite will have a maximum power output of approximately 15 kilowatts and a launch mass of about 2.6 metric tons. Through this work, OHB will make a major contribution to the implementation of the overall system. 

“IRIS² will mark another significant step toward Europe’s independence. In an increasingly digital and highly mobile world, a resilient and autonomous communication infrastructure is indispensable. With Galileo and Copernicus, OHB has already helped shape two of Europe’s most important satellite programs. We are especially pleased to have been entrusted with the development of eighteen satellite platforms for IRIS², further expanding our role in Europe’s strategic space infrastructure,” said Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB SE.

With IRIS², the European Union aims to sustainably strengthen its sovereignty in secure satellite communication. As the EU’s third flagship space program alongside Galileo and Copernicus, the system will provide highly secure and high-performance communication services to both public and private users. At the same time, IRIS² will enhance the resilience of critical infrastructure, improve Europe’s crisis response capabilities, and help eliminate connectivity gaps in rural and remote regions.

IRIS² is being implemented as a public-private partnership led by the European Commission, supported by the technical expertise of the European Space Agency (ESA) and the European Union Agency for the Space Programme (EUSPA), and backed by the European space industry.

“As the company responsible for the delivery of the IRIS² MEO segment within SpaceRISE, SES is pleased to work with OHB on the development of these eighteen satellite platforms. This contract represents an important step towards delivering Europe’s next generation of secure and resilient communication infrastructure,” said Xavier Bertran, Chief Product and Innovation Officer at SES.

“IRIS² is set to create a communication infrastructure of strategic importance for Europe,” said Gianaldo Mantovani, Member of the Executive Board of OHB System AG. “Europe needs its own independent communications capabilities. OHB is contributing its extensive experience in satellite platform development and in building constellations in medium Earth orbit.” 

In the long term, IRIS² will make a decisive contribution to Europe’s digital security, resilience, and competitiveness. The launch of the first satellites is planned for 2029, with initial services expected to become available in 2030.