European Union initiates IRIS 2 satellite production and Ukraine negotiations

The European Commission has entered negotiations with Ukraine regarding its potential accession to the IRIS 2 program and the Govsatcom project. IRIS 2 is a European Union initiative designed to establish a sovereign satellite constellation to provide secure digital communications for both civilian and military users, serving as a European alternative to systems like Starlink.

As part of the program's development, Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space have signed agreements with Eutelsat to begin producing the first layer of satellites for the low Earth orbit (LEO) segment. The IRIS 2 constellation is expected to consist of approximately 350 satellites, with launches projected to begin around 2029. The project, estimated to cost around ten billion euros, aims to strengthen Europe's digital sovereignty and strategic autonomy by providing resilient communication networks, including military-grade Ka-band frequencies.