- Category: Latest News
- 2026-05-29
The European Commission has launched a new call for proposals for grants to support the development of affordable user terminals for services under the EU secure connectivity programme IRIS² and GOVSATCOM. The initiative aims to strengthen European industrial capability and support the EU objective of promoting a competitive and innovative space industry.
With an estimated budget of €20 million, the call is expected to fund up to three projects.
The call is open to legal entities established in EU Member States. Applicants must comply with the eligibility, strategic autonomy, and security criteria defined in the call documentation. Although forming a consortium is not mandatory, the European Commission encourages applicants to assemble teams with complementary competences across the relevant value chain.
The initiative focuses on strengthening the European industrial capability for Ka-band user terminals, particularly regarding cost reduction, manufacturability, production readiness, and supply-chain resilience. The topic is not intended to develop a specific end-to-end terminal product, but rather to support the availability of innovative, more affordable, and deployable user terminals.
Projects may address one or more of the following areas:
- antenna-subsystem industrial readiness, including assembly, calibration, and test processes;
- manufacturing processes and equipment aimed at improving throughput, repeatability, and unit-cost reduction;
- supply-chain measures reducing critical dependencies on non-European sources and strengthening European industrial capability for terminal components;
- modem and baseband industrial readiness for 5G NR NTN-compliant solutions, including migration paths towards volume-production architectures.
Projects can range from 18 to 36 months in duration and are expected to demonstrate a credible contribution to cost reduction, production scale-up, and the strengthening of European industrial capabilities.
IRIS² (Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite) is the European Union’s secure connectivity programme designed to provide secure and resilient satellite communication services across Europe and beyond.
The deadline for submitting proposals is 26 August 2026 at 17:00 CET.
Further information is available on the European Commission website.