WASHINGTON — Airbus Defence and Space won a contract to build a pair of synthetic aperture radar (SAR) imaging satellites as part of an effort by the United Kingdom to build up its military space reconnaissance capabilities.
The U.K. Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced Feb. 10 it awarded a contract to Airbus to build Oberon, a pair of SAR imaging satellites, under a contract valued at 127 million pounds ($157 million.)
The contract covers the development of a pair of 400-kilogram satellites equipped with SAR payloads. Airbus will build the satellites at facilities in the U.K. and Oxford Space Systems, a British company that develops deployable structures, will produce the antennas that will unfurl after launch for use transmitting and receiving the radar signals.
Oberon is part of a larger MoD initiative called ISTARI, with an estimated cost of 986 million pounds, to develop a constellation of reconnaissance satellites. The first spacecraft in that system, an optical imaging satellite called Tyche, launched in August 2024 on a SpaceX rideshare mission.
“Oberon, alongside Tyche and other satellites in our ISTARI constellation, will allow us to observe what’s happening on Earth from space at any time and through any weather,” Maj. Gen. Paul Tedman, head of U.K. Space Command, said in a statement. “This will enable and enhance U.K. and allied military operations around the world.”
“Oberon’s satellites will give the U.K. a much-needed sovereign capability and greatly enhance its space surveillance and intelligence autonomy,” added Ben Bridge, chairman of Airbus Defence and Space U.K.
The Oberon satellites are projected to launch in 2027. The MoD expects to complete the full ISTARI constellation by 2031, but has not disclosed specifics on the number and types of satellites. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd., which built Tyche, won a contract worth 40 million pounds in November 2024 to build a follow-on optical imaging satellite, Juno, for the constellation.
