Last week it was announced that the European Commission and the SpaceRISE consortium signed an agreement that marks the start of the full deployment of IRIS², concluding negotiations started earlier in January this year.
The agreement expands the constellation to 348 satellites with 330 in higher Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and 18 in Medium Earth Orbit (MEO) which will be deployed in phases. The first launches have been moved up to 2029, accelerating delivery of sovereign, secure European connectivity services.
Responding to the changing security landscape, the Commission is boosting IRIS²’s governmental capacity beyond its original plans. For instance, baseline satellites will feature enhanced design, and additional satellites in higher LEO will be added specifically for defence, security, and emergency services.
These enhancements together will lift secure governmental communications capacity by 60% across the EU and 54% on a global scale, giving Europe far greater capability to sustain operations during crises.
This development marks an important milestone also for the ongoing developments of EUCCS Preparation programme activities.
PSCE will share further updates on this during its upcoming conference, taking place on 2-3 December 2026 in Brussels. Registrations to the PSCE Conference are already open.
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