The French defence procurement agency has awarded Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space a contract worth more than €1.5 billion to build the IRIS satellite system, securing France’s military imaging capability into the next decade.
The French defence procurement agency (DGA) has awarded the contract for the IRIS programme to lead contractor Airbus Defence and Space and co-contractor Thales Alenia Space (TAS). IRIS represents the next generation of extremely high-resolution Earth observation satellites for the French Armed Forces.
The contract covers the detailed design, manufacture and testing of two satellites, as well as the control and user ground segments, plus in-orbit operations and maintenance. Scheduled to run until the end of the 2030s, the contract is worth more than €1.5 billion for the entire consortium.
“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.”
The IRIS satellites will replace the CSO (Optical Space Component) satellites of the MUSIS (Multinational Space-based Imaging System) programme to secure France’s operational image-origin intelligence (IMINT) capability from space. The programme aims to ensure continuity of that capability while improving performance, offering higher image quality and lower latency, to meet the needs of the armed forces in a rapidly changing strategic environment.
Airbus will provide both satellite platforms, a significant share of the first satellite’s payload, and will be responsible for the ground segment. TAS will develop a next-generation payload for the second satellite, provide critical elements for the first payload, and contribute to the ground segment.
Like its predecessor, the IRIS system will acquire day and night images across the visible and infrared spectrums of any point on the Earth’s surface at extremely high resolution. It will also be able to image objects in space to support space surveillance and the characterisation of space threats.
As with the MUSIS programme, which involves eight European partners, the IRIS programme remains open to international cooperation, granting allied nations access to the French system.
Source and Images: Airbus
