{"id":461993,"date":"2026-08-07T13:13:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-07T11:13:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/08\/07\/spazio-ecco-iris%c2%b2-lue-sigla-laccordo-per-66-nuovi-satelliti-utili-per-la-difesa\/"},"modified":"2026-08-07T16:49:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-07T14:49:17","slug":"space-iris%c2%b2-eu-signs-deal-to-add-66-satellites-for-defence","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/08\/07\/space-iris%c2%b2-eu-signs-deal-to-add-66-satellites-for-defence\/","title":{"rendered":"Space, IRIS\u00b2: EU signs deal to add 66 satellites for defence"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 Moving forward with new and additional satellites, as scheduled. The European Commission and the SpaceRISE consortium have concluded negotiations and signed an implementation agreement for the launch of IRIS\u00b2, the European Union\u2019s new flagship satellite constellation. The agreement, among other things, adds 66 satellites<\/strong> into low Earth orbit to the programme, bringing the main constellation to 348 satellites, and moving it from planning to full-scale deployment. <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/span><\/span><\/span>The agreement takes on a whole new significance in light of the updated EU agenda, in which space is used as a means of defence. The deployment of IRIS\u00b2 involves a dedicated constellation of 66 satellites to strengthen defence capabilities<\/strong>, as well as security and emergency services. According to European Commission estimates, this reinforcement will increase secure governmental capacity by 60 per cent within the EU and by 54 per cent globally, significantly expanding Europe\u2019s ability to support critical missions during crises.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Specifically, IRIS\u00b2 will enable authorised government users in EU Member States and participating countries \u2013 currently Norway and Iceland \u2013 to communicate securely and continuously during critical operations.<\/span><\/span> Whether responding to emergencies, protecting critical infrastructure, or supporting security missions, IRIS\u00b2 will provide Europe with an autonomous and resilient connectivity capability.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

 https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/05\/27\/the-eu-launches-its-new-satellite-plan-and-challenges-starlink-reserve-two-thirds-of-the-bandwidth-for-domestic-operators\/<\/a><\/p>\n

“Today we are taking a decisive step forward for Europe\u2019s security and digital sovereignty,” said a satisfied Andrius Kubilius,<\/strong> Commissioner for Defence, citing two reasons: “By accelerating the delivery of early defence and security services and reinforcing the IRIS\u00b2 architecture, we will not only bring the network into operation ahead of schedule <\/strong>but also boost secure governmental capacity within the Union.”<\/span><\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

Now comes the economic part of the operation: finding the funds. The faster implementation and greater capacity required to meet defence and security needs entail \u201can additional investment in the programme budget,\u201d the European Commission\u2019s services admit.<\/span><\/span> This investment will support advanced satellite technologies and the deployment of the expanded constellation, while ensuring the efficient use of the programme\u2019s existing resources.<\/span><\/span> Funding will necessarily have to be \u201ca combination of resources from the EU budget for the period 2028\u20132034 and additional investments from Member States and third countries.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The European Commission has signed an agreement with SpaceRISE for the deployment of a new constellation of in-orbit devices. Kubilius: “Ahead of schedule, a major step forward”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":494,"featured_media":461971,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[30809,25710],"tags":[29924,34983,32182,26513,26167,33394],"class_list":["post-461993","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-defence-security","category-net-tech-en","tag-andrius-kubilius-en","tag-iris","tag-kubilius-en","tag-satellite-in","tag-space-en","tag-ue"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461993","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/494"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=461993"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461993\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":461994,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/461993\/revisions\/461994"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/461971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=461993"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=461993"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=461993"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}