Madrid, Spain / Brussels, Belgium, January 2026 – Airbus Defence and Space and Hisdesat have signed an agreement to extend and expand their long-standing collaboration in the international radar Earth observation market, covering the commercialisation of imagery and applications from the future PAZ-2 radar satellites.

The agreement was formalised during the European Space Conference in Brussels and builds on an existing partnership established in 2018 for the commercialisation of radar imagery from the PAZ satellite, operated in constellation with Germany’s TerraSAR-X and TanDEM-X satellites.

According to the two companies, the renewed collaboration is intended to support the continued development and market penetration of Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR)-based Earth observation services for both defence and commercial users.

PAZ-2 is led by the Spanish Ministry of Defence and Hisdesat and comprises two twin radar satellites that will replace the current PAZ satellite, which has been in service since 2018. The programme is funded by the Spanish Ministry of Industry and Tourism and will primarily provide radar imagery and services to the Spanish Ministry of Defence, while also supporting wider civil and commercial applications.

In July 2025, Hisdesat awarded Airbus Defence and Space the contract for the manufacture of the two PAZ-2 satellites. Airbus Defence and Space is the prime contractor for the space segment, with the programme featuring 65% national industrial participation.

The PAZ-2 satellites are designed to operate in constellation and will integrate advanced technologies aimed at delivering enhanced image quality. Planned capabilities include an improved resolution of up to 10 centimetres, coverage of up to 6.7 million square kilometres per day per satellite, and a maximum image swath width of 500 kilometres. For time-critical operations, the mission is expected to provide near-real-time services, with a latency of approximately five minutes from image acquisition to availability.

The enhanced performance of PAZ-2 is intended to strengthen intelligence, surveillance and security missions, as well as civil applications such as infrastructure monitoring, risk management, border control and disaster assessment. The first PAZ-2 satellite is expected to enter service by mid-2031.