The new constellation will enable less technically advanced nations access to high-quality satellite imagery and remote tasking.

The European Defence Fund (EDF) issued a call for proposals on 30 January to build a new constellation of small, affordable military surveillance satellites.

For 2025, EUR66 million will be earmarked for the project, which forms part of the broader research & development (R&D) EDF 2025 Work Programme published at the end of January.  

The Work Programme, published annually by the EDF, issues calls for proposals under specific topics and themes to support R&D in defence. Among the nine topics addressed in the EDF's latest Work Programme, the space domain receives the most funding (EUR115 million), second only to ground combat.

The largest space project stipulates a requirement for building a network of small satellites, including a ground segment, to support intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions. This will allow responsive data collection and smart tasking, enabling relevant satellite imagery to be provided in near real-time for operations.

The satellites will be equipped with a variety of sensors, such as optical, night vision, low light infrared, hyperspectral, radar, passive radio frequency detection and video.

In addition to the satellite network, the EDF's 2025 Work Programme seeks to bolster Europe's space domain awareness (SDA). With over 9,000 active satellites currently in orbit, as of April 2024, enhancing SDA is becoming increasingly crucial.

As part of this effort, the EDF is calling for industry to help develop a concept of operations for on-orbit SDA. This EUR49 million project will include a feasibility analysis to inform future defence capability planning. 

The EU steps up 

The EU is taking a greater role in defence amid a more unstable geopolitical environment, with the first EU Commissioner for Defence and Space, Andrius Kubilius, appointed towards the end of last year.

Along with a new ISR constellation, the organisation is building a multi-orbit satellite communications constellation – IRIS² – to support military connectivity. In October, a consortium of companies called SpaceRISE, comprising SES, Eutelsat and Hispasat, won the contract to deliver the network. The team is relying on a core team of eight European space and telecommunications companies.