{"id":679758,"date":"2026-11-09T19:08:11","date_gmt":"2026-11-09T19:08:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/679758\/"},"modified":"2026-11-09T19:08:11","modified_gmt":"2026-11-09T19:08:11","slug":"airbus-and-thales-alenia-space-to-build-two-french-military-satellites-in-deal-worth-over-e1-5-billion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/679758\/","title":{"rendered":"Airbus and Thales Alenia Space to build two French military satellites in deal worth over \u20ac1.5 billion"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>France\u2019s defence procurement agency has awarded an Airbus-led team a contract worth more than \u20ac1.5 billion to build two IRIS military imaging satellites. The contract runs until the end of the 2030s and covers the satellites\u2019 design, manufacture and testing, the ground systems used to control the satellites and access their imagery, and operations and maintenance in orbit.<\/p>\n<p>IRIS will replace the Optical Space Component satellites that France uses to gather military intelligence under the Multinational Space-based Imaging System programme. Airbus says the new satellites will deliver sharper images and make them available to French forces faster, while preserving France\u2019s ability to gather imagery independently.<\/p>\n<p>The satellites will use visible and infrared sensors to take extremely high-resolution images of any point on Earth, day or night. They will also be able to photograph objects in space, helping France monitor activity in orbit and assess potential threats.<\/p>\n<p>Airbus Defence and Space will build both satellite platforms, supply much of the first satellite\u2019s imaging payload and lead work on the ground systems. Thales Alenia Space will develop the second satellite\u2019s payload, provide key components for the first and contribute to the ground systems.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith this contract, Airbus Defence and Space is contributing to France\u2019s sovereignty and strategic autonomy,\u201d said Alain Faur\u00e9, head of space systems at Airbus Defence and Space. \u201cIn addition, this programme strengthens the French supply chain in space-based optical imagery.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The existing Multinational Space-based Imaging System programme involves eight European partners. Airbus says IRIS will remain open to international cooperation, allowing allied countries to access the French system.<\/p>\n<p><a class=\"gofollow\" data-track=\"MjkzLDY5LDYw\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=defence-industry.eu\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"676\" height=\"213\" class=\"perfmatters-lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/11\/Google_02.webp\"\/><\/a>        <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"France\u2019s defence procurement agency has awarded an Airbus-led team a contract worth more than \u20ac1.5 billion to build&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":679759,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[61,60,82,247],"class_list":["post-679758","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679758","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=679758"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/679758\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/679759"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=679758"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=679758"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=679758"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}