Canadian MDA Space Secures €64 Million IRIS2 Antenna Agreement

What happened

Canadian space technology company MDA Space has signed an agreement with Thales Alenia Space to begin work on digital antennas for the first 66 satellites of the European Union’s IRIS2 secure connectivity constellation. The agreement comes as Canada and the EU have announced plans to explore Canadian participation in the programme.

In a 30 October announcement, MDA Space revealed that it had received authorisation to proceed with the development of digital phased array antennas and a digital antenna controller for the satellites.

The company valued the initial agreement at more than C$100 million (€64.18 million).

While the agreement authorises work to begin, MDA Space noted that a definitive contract covering its full scope of work has yet to be finalised. The agreement follows the award of initial contracts for the other major elements of the IRIS2 constellation’s first 66 satellites, referred to as Layer One.