Europe is preparing to build its own very low Earth orbit (VLEO) military satellites.
On March 13, 2026, the European Defence Agency (EDA) allocated €15.65 million to research the development of its first VLEO satellite concept, which it calls VLEO-DEF.
VLEO satellites operate at 150–350 km altitude, much lower than the 400-1200 km altitude of standard low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites or the 35,000 km of geostationary satellites (GEO). This allows for higher resolution images of the surface of the planet as well as lower latency in communications to and from the ground.
Although the investment is not large by industry standards, the move is significant in that this is the first European attempt to develop a military satellite from scratch designed specifically to operate permanently at very low Earth orbit (VLEO).
Earlier European projects in this field, like the a program, which was launched in 2024 with €10 million in funding from the Netherlands and Austria, involved the satellite operating at very low orbit only for short temporary spans of time, before returning to a much higher orbit.
Work on the new European VLEO satellite will be carried out by a consortium of 17 companies led by Spanish engineering firm Sener. The rest of the companies involved are from Spain, France, Luxembourg, Portugal and Slovenia, the five countries that are funding this project.
The design will attempt to overcome the technical challenges of VLEO operations, such as residual atmospheric drag, which slows down the movement of the satellites at such low altitudes.
The program is expected to run for 36 months.
