The German military has awarded Airbus a contract worth 2.1 billion euros for the next generation of SatcomBw 3 military communications satellites, the European aerospace company said on Thursday.
The agreement means that Airbus will manage geostationary satellitesland infrastructure and the releases over the next 15 years.
Geostationary satellites are spacecraft that orbit the Earth at the same speed as it rotatesmeaning they remain in the same relative position. These ships are scheduled to be deployed before the end of the decade.
“At a time when Western democracies are facing challenges and in which the space ecosystem “As the European institutional framework is struggling, we are excited and grateful to develop and build this cutting-edge system,” said Michael Schoellhorn, CEO of Airbus Defence and Space.
“The associations in the long term are crucial “to ensure essential sovereignty and capability, and protect our armed forces in an increasingly unstable geopolitical environment,” he added. The new contract strengthens the existing relationship between Airbus and the German Army, as both parties have held a similar satellite contract since 2009.
The next generation of Airbus satellites is based on the Eurostar Neo platform and will weigh around six metric tons. According to the company, they will have “ample capabilities to keep pace with rapid changes in the digitalization” and the “necessary data transfer volume”.
In April, German Finance Minister Christian Lindner predicted that the country could see increased its defense spending by 9 billion euros from 2028, provided Germany can reduce its debt burden.
“This will help us to achieve the leap towards the NATO target in the federal budget after the end of the special programme for the Bundeswehr.” [Ejército]”, Lindner said.
According to NATO principles, members should aim to spend at least 2% of its Gross Domestic Product on Defense. Twenty-three Allies are expected to meet or exceed this target by 2024, compared with just three Allies in 2014. In February this year, German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius nevertheless stated that the 2% target “can only be the starting point”.
The geopolitical tensionsin particular Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, have brought security concerns, and therefore defence spending, to the forefront of European priorities.
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