Poland has committed 656 million euro ($748 million) to Europe’s IRIS² constellation, which will fund nearly 10% of the constellation.
Under the agreement signed Tuesday in Warsaw, Poland will fund six satellites in Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) and six satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to function as a Polish constellation, within IRIS². In addition, a satellite gateway will be built in Warsaw to connect the satellites to the government’s GovNet fiber-optic network.
The Polish government also announced signing MoUs with both SES and Eutelsat, which are leading the IRIS² constellation, but did not specify what the MoUs cover.
The Polish government said in a release that strategic communication investment has had “years of neglect” and “technological fragmentation.” This investment is aimed at reversing this neglect to create “an integrated satellite dome” above Poland.
“Poland is joining a major European program to build secure satellite communications. This is a fully independent system, based on European satellites, that will ensure our security and strategic independence,” Polish Interior Minister Marcin Kierwiński said in a statement.
Kierwiński said the system is set to provide police, state fire service, and border guard with communications capabilities.
Poland is allocating funds from the National Recovery Plan to IRIS². The nation received nearly 60 billion euro from the EU in a mix of grants and loans for post-Covid recovery.
IRIS² is planned to be Europe’s third flagship space program after Galileo and Copernicus, with more than 290 satellites in total between both MEO and LEO to provide secure connectivity services to the EU and its member states, along with broadband connectivity. It’s funded through a public-private partnership between EU budget, member states, the European Space Agency (ESA), and private sector contributions. Service is targeted to begin in 2030.
“By integrating the Polish system with IRIS², Poland chooses to go European instead of going alone,” European Commission Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius said Tuesday, according to prepared remarks. “Poland’s investment today will make the entire Eastern Flank stronger. Will make Poland a connectivity hub for the entire Eastern Flank.”
Poland has made a number of recent investments into sovereign space capabilities — the Polish Armed Forces purchased a four-satellite synthetic aperture radar (SAR) constellation from Iceye which entered service in May; and the Polish MoD recently ordered a GEO satellite for defense communications.
Poland’s Ministry of Development and Technology has also ordered a three-satellite Earth Observation (EO) constellation called CAMILA for land analysis.
“With this project, we are also demonstrating that Poland aims to be a leader in the European space industry and remain at the center of European Union security efforts,” Kierwiński said of the IRIS² deal.
