Eutelsat Selects Airbus for OneWeb Satellite Expansion

(Reuters) – French satellite company Eutelsat has chosen aerospace giant Airbus to build 100 small satellites for its OneWeb constellation extension, with deliveries to begin around the end of 2026.

OneWeb is a European constellation of low Earth orbit (LEO) communications satellites acquired by Eutelsat in 2023 to compete with SpaceX's Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper.

Airbus has previously built 648 small satellites for OneWeb.

The new satellites will be technologically compatible with a planned 10.6 billion euro (approximately $11.13 billion) secure European satellite constellation called IRIS², which is expected to enter service in 2030.

Eutelsat did not disclose the financial terms of the Airbus deal.