The European Commission has signed an agreement with the industrial consortium SpaceRISE on the implementation and expansion of the IRIS² satellite constellation (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite).
The system is designed to provide the European Union with independent, secure and reliable connectivity. The primary focus is on the needs of governments, the military, security forces and emergency services — especially in crisis situations. The network is positioned as Europe’s response to commercial constellations such as Starlink.
Under the terms of the agreement, the IRIS² constellation will consist of 348 satellites: 330 in low Earth orbit (LEO) and 18 in medium Earth orbit (MEO). A smaller number of satellites had been planned previously; 66 additional low-orbit satellites have now been added to the programme. For comparison, the operational Starlink constellation already numbers more than 10,000 satellites.
The first launches are scheduled for 2029. After that, the system will begin providing secure communications for government users. The project is being implemented as a public-private partnership involving the European Commission, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the SpaceRISE consortium (which includes operators SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat).
IRIS² is intended to reduce Europe’s dependence on foreign satellite networks and strengthen the EU’s strategic autonomy in the field of communications.