France’s CENTAURE contract with Eutelsat provides a firm four-year commitment of €138 million including value-added tax, approximately €115 million excluding tax, for satellite capacity. The contract can reach €350 million including tax over eight years, approximately €300 million excluding tax.
These figures describe different levels of commitment. The four-year amount is firm. The eight-year amount is the contract ceiling, rather than revenue already secured in full. The distinction is necessary when assessing how government procurement supports a European satellite operator.
CENTAURE sits within the NEXUS framework, agreed in June 2025, which allows up to €1 billion in expenditure over 10 years. A framework establishes the terms under which subsequent purchases can be made. Individual call-off contracts turn portions of that framework into specific service commitments.
This is one mechanism through which European governments support access to satellite communications: purchasing capacity from an operator that maintains the spacecraft and service network. The customer does not need to own every satellite to obtain contracted access to communications.
Trade tensions provide context for these arrangements, but the contracts should not be presented as proven consequences of tariffs. Goods tariffs apply to covered imports. A government agreement to purchase communications capacity is a different transaction, governed by its service specifications, procurement terms, and security requirements.
The August 2025 U.S.–EU framework concerns the wider trading relationship. It does not establish that a European satellite service becomes more competitive by the same percentage as a tariff imposed on physical equipment. An operator’s terminals, spacecraft, and launch arrangements can have separate trade exposure from its service revenue.
Providing contracted capacity requires continued investment in the constellation. In January 2026, Airbus announced an order for 340 additional OneWeb satellites. These spacecraft support renewal of Eutelsat’s low Earth orbit system, connecting the operator’s service business to European satellite manufacturing.
Further procurement followed. Airbus announced initial industrial work associated with 229 additional OneWeb satellites in September 2026. The status of an order and the status of delivered hardware remain separate milestones.
On October 2, 2026, Airbus announced delivery of the first 32 next-generation OneWeb satellites. Delivery is a manufacturing result. Operational capacity follows the subsequent launch, deployment, testing, and introduction of the spacecraft into service.
Europe’s IRIS² program creates another source of demand for satellite manufacturing and communications infrastructure. Airbus announced an initial contract for the first layer of low Earth orbit satellites on behalf of Eutelsat. The planned layer comprises at least 66 spacecraft, with delivery scheduled for 2029.
IRIS² and OneWeb replenishment are distinct activities. The former contributes to the European secure-connectivity program through the SpaceRISE arrangement. The latter maintains and develops Eutelsat’s existing low Earth orbit service.
SES provides another example of European-operated infrastructure serving government customers. In February 2025, the company announced that O3b mPOWER had begun providing services to governments in Luxembourg and the United States through a NATO procurement arrangement. European supply and transatlantic cooperation can coexist within the same service relationship.
The location of an operator also does not establish the origin of every part of its network. Spacecraft components, ground equipment, software, and launch services can come from several jurisdictions. Assessing foreign-content dependence requires examining those underlying arrangements separately from the nationality of the service provider.
The documented commercial effect is specific: government customers are committing money to European-operated satellite capacity, and operators are placing orders for the spacecraft needed to support their networks. CENTAURE converts part of France’s broader NEXUS framework into a firm four-year purchase, providing a defined service commitment against which Eutelsat can plan.
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