Aviation News –The French defence procurement agency has awarded a multi-billion-euro contract to Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space to develop the IRIS programme, securing the future of France’s high-resolution military reconnaissance capabilities.
The major contract covers the detailed conception, manufacture, and testing of two advanced Earth observation satellites, alongside their control and user ground segments, plus long-term in-orbit operations and maintenance. Scheduled to run until the end of the 2030s, the initiative represents an investment of more than one and a half billion euros for the entire consortium, reinforcing strategic collaboration between leading European aerospace and defense players.
The IRIS satellites are designated to replace the existing CSO satellites of the MUSIS programme, ensuring seamless operational intelligence continuity for the French Armed Forces. This transition addresses a rapidly changing strategic environment by delivering significantly enhanced performance metrics, including higher image quality and substantially lower latency to make critical reconnaissance data available faster than ever before.
The state-of-the-art optical systems leverage advanced engineering to improve spatial resolution and speed up data transmission to ground command centers, directly optimizing operational response times for military commanders in active theaters.
“With this contract, Airbus Defence and Space is contributing to France’s sovereignty and strategic autonomy,” said Alain Fauré, Head of Space Systems at Airbus Defence and Space. “In addition, this programme strengthens the French supply chain in space-based optical imagery.”
This milestone development paves the way for advanced space-based defense architectures across Europe, setting a new benchmark for military satellite reconnaissance and secure sovereign communications.
