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 conception, manufacture and testing for 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 represents more than one and a half billion euros for the entire consortium.
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 the continuity of this capability while improving performance, with higher image quality and lower latency to make images available faster, to meet the needs of the armed forces in a rapidly changing strategic environment. The satellites will acquire day-and-night images across the visible and infrared spectrums of any point on the Earth's surface at extremely high resolution, and will also be able to image space objects to support space surveillance and the characterisation of space threats.
Airbus will provide both satellite platforms, a significant share of the first satellite's payload, and 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. "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." Like the MUSIS programme, which involves eight European partners, the IRIS programme remains fully open to international cooperation, granting allied nations access to the French system.