Eutelsat detailed a recently signed MoU with Poland to help support Europe’s flagship IRIS² program. Under the agreement, Eutelsat and Polish institutions will collaborate on the development of secure satellite communications in Europe, with a particular focus on the deployment and future evolution of the Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) part of the IRIS² constellation. Eutelsat announced the new MoU, July 28.
This comes after last week, Poland committed 656 million euro ($748 million) to Europe’s IRIS² constellation to fund six satellites in LEO and six satellites in Medium-Earth Orbit. As part of this, Poland signed MoUs with both SES and Eutelsat.
As part of this cooperation, Eutelsat will provide Polish space companies with access to its facilities to test and validate IRIS² user terminals, with the aim of accelerating innovation and supporting the integration of Polish industry into the European secure connectivity ecosystem.
The MoU will also explore provisioning up to 2 Gbps of reserved and prioritized OneWeb LEO capacity over Poland ahead of the entry into service of IRIS², with the objective of concluding a commercial agreement by June 2027.
Eutelsat said the MoU reflects the shared ambition of Eutelsat and Poland to strengthen Europe’s secure and sovereign connectivity capabilities, contribute to Europe’s technological leadership and strategic autonomy, and support the continued development of the Polish space ecosystem.
“Secure LEO connectivity has become a strategic capability for Europe. We are delighted to strengthen our partnership with Poland through this MoU, reflecting our shared commitment to Europe’s next generation of secure satellite communications. By combining OneWeb’s operational capabilities today with the future potential of IRIS², we are creating tangible benefits for Poland while helping build Europe’s secure connectivity and architecture,” Jean-François Fallacher, Eutelsat CEO, said in a statement.
