Eutelsat CEO: “1,300 OneWeb satellites in orbit by 2030”
September 15, 2026

By Chris Forrester



Eutelsat Chief Executive Jean-François Fallacher, speaking at the World Satellite Business Week in Paris on September 14th, said that the operator will have some 1,300 OneWeb satellites in orbit by 2030. Fallacher added that Eutelsat was boosting the number of OneWeb satellites in orbit in order to “strengthen” the OneWeb fleet.

He told delegates that Eutelsat was refreshing its existing fleet as satellites reached their ends, and had made several orders of extra satellites with refreshed ‘Gen-1’ craft plus new ‘Gen-1.5’ versions and then towards the end of this decade the extra satellites procured under the IRIS2 scheme.


Currently, Eutelsat has a pair of orders with Airbus Defence & Space made in 2025 and this year totalling 440 satellites. Recently, it has added another 229 satellites (the OneWeb 1.5 version) which will also carry a payload for the French Defence Ministry.

Another Airbus order covers 66 satellites for IRIS2 but are for military use only.

Another order for 264 satellites has gone to Belgium-based Aerospacelab. These will be equipped with Ka- and Ku-band and should be ready by 2032.

“So if you put yourself into 2030, we will have more than 1,300 satellites that will be flying. Some will be replacing the current satellites, some will strengthen the constellation and add capacity to be sure we can continue to grow,” Fallacher told delegates. “In 2032 we will have the full 66 plus 264 Iris2 satellites will be flying. This will be the point when we start migrating our customer base from Generation 1 and then Generation 1.5 and then slowly migrating to Gen 2 of our constellation, which should be the commercial part of Iris2.”