The U.S. subsidiary of Eutelsat is in active discussions with defense and intelligence agencies about hosting government payloads on the next generation of OneWeb satellites, a senior company executive tells SpaceNews.
Eutelsat Network Solutions, the company’s U.S. proxy entity, has focused on selling bandwidth from Eutelsat’s geostationary fleet and the OneWeb constellation. It is now seeking to move up the value chain by offering to integrate government-owned sensors and other mission payloads onto commercial spacecraft.
The effort is tied to Eutelsat’s planned replenishment of the OneWeb constellation. The company has ordered 440 satellites from Airbus Defense and Space to replace aging spacecraft launched between 2019 and 2023, with deliveries beginning at the end of 2026 and launches starting in early 2027.
“That gives us an opportunity to bring on board hosted payloads that may be bespoke to the U.S. government, and actually incorporate those into the overall launch schedule,” said Ian Canning, president and chief executive of Eutelsat Network Solutions.
Canning said multiple agencies are evaluating whether to place payloads, such as imaging or space domain awareness sensors, on the satellites. The spacecraft operate in low Earth orbit at about 1,200 kilometers in near-polar planes, enabling global coverage including high latitudes.
The discussions have accelerated in recent weeks. “We’re getting incredibly strong demand signals already,” Canning said, adding that many of his meetings at this year’s Space Symposium are focused on hosted payload opportunities.
Not a new concept, but different approach
The idea of flying government payloads on commercial satellites is not new. The U.S. Air Force explored the concept in the 1990s and 2000s but struggled to align commercial satellite production timelines with government procurement cycles, and to reconcile risk-sharing between operators and the military.
“Trying to get things to align was always a challenge,” Canning said.
Eutelsat is attempting to address those issues by pre-configuring its satellites with available capacity for hosted payloads. If no customer materializes, the company plans to launch the satellites with a mass simulator, avoiding schedule disruptions or financial penalties.
“We’ve got a very defined opportunity from a size, weight and power perspective,” Canning said. “The slot is there on the satellite, and if somebody can come and take advantage of it, fantastic.”
Under the model, the government would operate and control its payload, while Eutelsat provides the spacecraft and data downlink.
The company does not plan to alter its launch schedule to accommodate payload readiness, allocating capacity on a “first come, first served” basis. Final payload integration will take place in the United States, even though the satellites are being manufactured in France.
The push into hosted payloads comes as Eutelsat faces increasing competition in the low Earth orbit broadband market, led by SpaceX’s Starlink and, soon, Amazon.
Eutelsat Network Solutions is also pursuing military business for its alternative positioning, navigation and timing service, known as Astra, aimed at providing a backup to GPS using signals broadcast from communications satellites.
The system is designed to provide a timing reference even in contested environments, with positioning derived from a combination of residual GNSS signals and other inputs.
“Ukraine has taught us a lot,” Canning said, referring to widespread jamming and spoofing of satellite navigation signals in the conflict.
The war has shown that satellite navigation can no longer be treated as a reliable utility in combat, pushing militaries toward more resilient approaches that combine multiple data sources so systems can continue operating when GNSS is degraded or denied.
Canning said the Astra system is already in use with U.S. military units and is being upgraded, including development of mobile terminals for battlefield use.
