There is no white smoke yet, but we are getting close, we want to believe in Brussels. After a new round of tough negotiations at the highest level, the European Commission and the major space manufacturers – Airbus, Thales Alenia Space and satellite operators Eutelsat, Hispasat and SES – selected for the development of the Iris² program, the future European satellite constellation for high-speed and secure communication, are trying to find a final compromise on its financing.
While the ministers responsible for space meet on Thursday, May 23, in Brussels for a council devoted to space, the realization of this constellation, which must incorporate modules for secure military communication in particular, is still awaited. At the end of 2022, when the Council and Parliament reached an agreement to launch this program called to compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink, the European Commissioner responsible for space, Thierry Breton, had promised to take office in 2024, with the launch new satellites in 2027 for full commissioning by 2030.
Eighteen months later, negotiations with manufacturers are tough. The Commission had counted on around 6 billion euros to finance this public-private program, including 2.4 billion provided by the European Union and 750 million by the European Space Agency (ESA), the rest being provided by manufacturers. However, the proposal from the pre-selected consortium reaches a budget of 12 billion euros.
“Complexity of technologies”
In a missive sent in March to Brussels and revealed by the media The letter, German Economy Minister Robert Habeck criticized the “exorbitant price” of the project as well as the conduct of the call for tenders, favoring, without really saying it, the major French space players to the detriment of German companies in the sector like OHB.
A position which irritated the Commission, which is continuing negotiations in order to” to optimise “ costs with manufacturers, we assure in Brussels. This phase is soon over, we promise, which will pave the way for the submission of firm offers from manufacturers. The Commission recalls in particular that“Iris² is not an ESA program.” “There is no geographical return [c’est-à-dire pas d’obligation d’investir dans tel ou tel pays]. So any industrial lobby, even through a Member State, has no impact. » Close the ban.
Nevertheless, “by negotiating with a consortium bringing together all the major players, the Commission put itself at the mercy of the latter”, judges an observer. “It seems that the manufacturers wanted to inflate the total price of the system a little too much, hence the current difficulties”notes Christophe Grudler, Renew MEP (liberals), who is following this project closely.
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