Airbus Defense and Space and Thales Alenia Space signed a contract with the Spanish company Hisdesat to build a military communications satellite SpainSat NG 3.
Airbus is the prime contractor and is responsible for the manufacture of the X-band satellite and payload. Thales Alenia Space provides UHF and military Ka-band payloads.
The satellite is designed to provide communications services for the armed forces of Spain and its allies over the American territories, of Europe, Africa and the Middle East. Its launch is planned for the third quarter 2030 year, commissioning — at the beginning 2031 year.
SpainSat OF 3 is a replacement for the SpainSat NG satellite 2, which went down in January 2026 year due to damage by a space particle.
Source: https://spacenews.com