What Happened
French Defence Agency Awards Contract For Two Military Imaging Satellites
France’s defence procurement agency has awarded an Airbus-led team a contract worth more than €1.5 billion to build two IRIS military imaging satellites. The contract covers the design, manufacture, and testing of the satellites, as well as ground systems and operations. The IRIS programme will replace the existing Optical Space Component satellites and deliver sharper images and faster access to French forces. According to Defence Industry Europe, the satellites will use visible and infrared sensors to take high-resolution images of any point on Earth, day or night.