Fifteen European Union governments have agreed to build a shared military picture of what is happening in orbit, with the European Defence Agency running the program and an initial budget of about €50 million.
The arrangement was concluded on September 25. The participating states span the bloc from Portugal and Ireland across to Finland and Romania, and other member countries can still sign on later.
Why the gap exists
Only a handful of European countries hold meaningful space surveillance coverage. France, Germany, Spain and Italy carry most of it. Everyone else leans on the United States or commercial providers, whose services are expanding quickly.
Pay as you go
The mechanism will share information on objects and activity in orbit, with the aim of helping militaries protect imagery, navigation and communications satellites from collisions and interference. It uses a non-binding, pay-as-you-go model with no long-term budget commitment, and builds on the agency’s EU SatCom Market, which launched in 2012 and has become its largest project, with a contract ceiling raised to €250 million in early 2024.
A supplier survey closes in December. The agency expects to settle a program arrangement with member states around 2027 to 2028, then issue a framework contract, with initial operating capability targeted for early 2029. That sits just ahead of the bloc’s 2030 defense readiness target.
