Thales Alenia Space secured a contract worth approximately €500 million ($581.7 million).
The joint venture between Italy’s Leonardo and France’s Thales will supply payloads for 330 low Earth orbit satellites.
The deal supports the European Union’s IRIS² project to build a secure space-based 5G network.
This constellation provides resilient connectivity for government and commercial services.
The European Commission President signaled support for a potential merger of space divisions between Leonardo, Airbus, and Thales.
The President described these firms as industrial champions required for global competition.