Signed during the Paris Airshow, the deal reflects France's strategic decision to bolster space-based defense capabilities without waiting for the full deployment of the European IRIS initiative, which France has supported since its 2022 EU Council Presidency.
Under the terms of the new 10-year framework, the Direction generale de l'armement (DGA) will invest up to euro 1 billion to access Eutelsat's space assets. This includes priority use of the OneWeb low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation, support for auxiliary missions, and provision of operational and cybersecurity maintenance services. The agreement also mandates the upgrading of the LEO system to comply with military security standards.
Jean-Francois Fallacher, Eutelsat's CEO, stated: "We are honored at the prospect of supporting the French armed forces through this historic agreement, which underscores the crucial role of low earth orbit satellite capacity in responding to the requirements of contemporary operational theaters. Eutelsat today offers the only commercially operated LEO constellation capable of meeting stringent military standards ahead of the deployment of IRIS. 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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