Airbus Wins 1 Billion Euro Eutelsat Deal

Airbus has signed an agreement with franco-british satellite operator Eutelsat to build 229 low Earth orbit satellites. The order represents an investment of 1 billion euros and will replenish and expand Eutelsat's OneWeb network through 2034.

This contract adds to 440 Airbus-manufactured satellites previously ordered by Eutelsat across 2024 and 2025. Deliveries under those earlier orders are scheduled to begin in the fourth quarter. Under prior plans, Eutelsat expected to invest about 2 billion euros to acquire and launch the 440 satellites by 2030.

The 229 additional satellites aim to ensure service continuity until the commercial deployment of IRIS², the planned 348-satellite European Union secure communications constellation expected to enter service around the end of the decade. OneWeb currently operates more than 600 satellites in orbit, compared to over 11,000 operated by Starlink.

The deal comes as Eutelsat works to challenge Starlink after raising around 5 billion euros to overcome financial difficulties from its 3.4 billion dollar merger with OneWeb. In March, Eutelsat chief executive Jean-François Fallacher stated to Reuters that the company expected its fleet to exceed 1,000 satellites very soon. In a separate announcement in Paris, Eutelsat also booked two Ariane launch missions for 2027 and 2028.