France, Eutelsat to combine military and civilian space resources
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Eutelsat and the French Ministry of the Armed Forces (Direction générale de l’armement) have announced a landmark framework agreement covering up to €1 billion during the Paris Air Show to boost military space communications.
The agreement embodies the NEXUS (Neo-Espace pour de multiples Usages Sécurisés) program, launched by the French Ministry of Defence, which aims to reinforce the current French military space communications model by combining military and civilian resources.
However, France has reaffirmed its commitment to the European IRIS² program, which has been supported from the outset since the French Presidency of the Council of the European Union in 2022. However, the urgency of the international situation and fast-moving geopolitical risks means that the government feels it cannot wait until then. The agreement will provide strategic in-space resources in advance of the IRIS² constellation’s availability.
As the first concrete step in the NEXUS project, the French defence procurement agency (DGA) has established a 10-year framework agreement, valued at up to €1 billion in expenditure, with Eutelsat. This agreement covers the supply of priority-access space resources, including capacity on Eutelsat’s OneWeb LEO constellation, the hosting of ancillary missions for the French armed forces, and operational and security maintenance. It also encompasses the upgrading and securing of the constellation for military-grade use.
Jean-Francois Fallacher, Chief Executive Officer of Eutelsat, commented: “This historic agreement underscores the crucial role of low Earth orbit satellite capacity in responding to the requirements of contemporary operational theatres. Eutelsat today offers the only commercially operated LEO constellation capable of meeting stringent military standards ahead of the deployment of IRIS². It provides global coverage, low latency, rapid deployment, and adaptability to mobile use cases, attributes validated by successful large-scale experiments conducted with the French Armed Forces.”
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