Thales Alenia Space Wins French Military Satellite Contract Alongside Airbus
- Thales Alenia Space received a French defense procurement agency contract on Nov. 9, 2026, to jointly develop IRIS with Airbus Defence and Space.
- The joint venture is 67% owned by Thales and 33% by Leonardo.
- IRIS will comprise two military optical observation satellites with associated ground infrastructure, progressively replacing the three CSO satellites.
- Thales Alenia Space will build imaging systems for the first satellite, with a higher-performance observation instrument planned for the second.
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