Airbus, Thales Alenia Space and RADMOR have signed an agreement to develop a geostationary defence communications satellite for Poland. The system will support secure military communications and includes both space and ground infrastructure components.
The EU has approved SAFE defence funding for France and Czechia, allocating up to €15.09 billion and €2.06 billion respectively. The financing supports joint procurement and investment to strengthen defence production and readiness across member states.
The €150 billion SAFE fund will come into force on May 29, offering loans to EU states for defence procurement, that will require 65 percent of all purchases to be of European origin, with contractors required to fully control design to avoid new dependencies.
Defence Minister Boris Pistorius outlined a plan for Germany to increase military expenditure as a ratio of gross domestic product (GDP) by 0.2 percentage points per year over a period of seven years.
An agreement between the EU and the UK has included the first steps towards allowing British companies to compete for orders paid for by a €150B loan program intended to boost European defence, that would otherwise only be serviced by European firms.
