Last week, the EU parliament adopted the IRIS2 (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) initiative. This will result in the development of a secure sovereign communications constellation for Europe.

The need for hyperconnectivity, or connectivity at all times and everywhere, and the search for digital sovereignty, is seeing increasing demand for satellite communications services. As cyber threats unfortunately grow, the EU government identified the need for an improvement of existing European satcoms services, with higher security, lower latency and higher bandwidth.

The IRIS2 system will support a variety of governmental applications such as surveillance, humanitarian aid, and protection of key infrastructure such as EU embassies around the world. It will also aim to enable mobile and fixed broadband satellite access and cloud-based services. 

The new constellation will rely on innovative technology including quantum communications to develop multi-orbital secure connectivity by leveraging the "New Space" ecosystem. 

Initial services are targeted for 2024 with full operational capability by 2027.