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SpainSat NG III

2030 Military satellites Communications satellites Satellite communications

History

SpainSat NG III is a planned Spanish military communications satellite ordered by Hisdesat from an industrial team led by Airbus Defence and Space. It is intended to replace SpainSat NG II and restore the two-spacecraft architecture of Spain's next-generation secure communications system.

Background

The original SpainSat Next Generation program produced SpainSat NG I and NG II to replace the earlier SpainSat and XTAR-EUR spacecraft. The satellites were designed to provide protected government and military communications in X, military Ka, and UHF bands over a wide area extending across the Americas, Europe, Africa, the Middle East, and parts of Asia.

SpainSat NG I entered orbit in 2025. SpainSat NG II was launched in October 2025 but was declared lost after damage during its orbit-raising phase. Hisdesat consequently required a replacement to operate with NG I and restore the planned capacity and redundancy.

Contract

Hisdesat selected Airbus Defence and Space as prime contractor for SpainSat NG III in 2026. Airbus is responsible for overall design, integration, testing, and the X-band communications payload. Thales Alenia Space in Spain is responsible for the UHF and military Ka-band payloads.

The contract continues the division of payload work used in the preceding SpainSat NG program and keeps major communications-module activities in Spanish industry. The satellite is scheduled to be ready for launch in the third quarter of 2030 and to enter service in early 2031. Both dates remain planned milestones.

Design

SpainSat NG III is planned as a geostationary secure communications satellite. From geostationary orbit, it will maintain continuous visibility over its assigned service regions and relay communications for the Spanish Armed Forces, government agencies, NATO partners, and other authorized allied users.

Communications payload

The payload will operate in X band, military Ka band, and ultra high frequency. These bands support different combinations of data capacity, terminal size, coverage, and resistance to interference. Airbus in Spain will produce the X-band payload, while Thales Alenia Space in Spain will supply the UHF and military Ka-band equipment.

Published program information states that the X-band antennas will be able to reconfigure coverage as often as 1,000 times per second. This capability is intended to redirect capacity, respond to changing operational demand, and improve protection against jamming and other electronic threats.

Coverage

The satellite is intended to provide services over the Americas, Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. It will work with SpainSat NG I, whose coverage extends farther east toward Singapore. The combined architecture is intended to provide secure beyond-line-of-sight communications over areas relevant to Spanish and allied operations.

Protection

SpainSat NG III is expected to incorporate greater bandwidth agility and stronger resistance to jamming than the earlier spacecraft. Detailed protection methods have not been published. Secure military satellites normally combine directional and reconfigurable antennas, protected waveforms, encryption, interference monitoring, and controlled ground infrastructure, but only the capabilities confirmed for NG III should be treated as part of its final configuration.

Program status

SpainSat NG III was under contract and in development as of 2026. The spacecraft had not been completed, launched, or placed in operational service. Launch readiness was planned for the third quarter of 2030, followed by orbital testing and an intended service entry in early 2031.