en.Wedoany.com Reported - Airbus Defence and Space has been awarded a contract by Spanish company Hisdesat to serve as the prime contractor for the SpainSat NG-III secure communications satellite. Part of Europe's advanced secure communications satellite series, the satellite's development and construction will be led by Airbus.

Building on the design of its predecessor satellites, SpainSat NG-III incorporates multiple technological upgrades, offering greater operational flexibility, wider bandwidth, and enhanced protection against jamming and electronic threats.

Alain Fauré, Head of Space Systems at Airbus Defence and Space, stated that amid the current complex geopolitical landscape, this satellite strengthens Spain's and Europe's strategic autonomy by safeguarding critical mission communications for Spain, NATO, and allied forces.

The SpainSat NG program is a European advanced secure satellite communications constellation project, providing high-capacity, encrypted command and control links for defense and government missions. As prime contractor, Airbus will leverage the existing technological expertise of the SpainSat NG family to carry out the satellite's design, integration, and testing at its facilities, with the program also driving the participation of the European and Spanish space industry supply chain.

This satellite is being developed by Airbus in Spain and features an advanced X-band transmit/receive active antenna with capabilities equivalent to 16 conventional antennas, enabling rapid reconfiguration of coverage areas up to 1,000 times per second, as well as high-precision detection and suppression of electronic jamming. Thales Alenia Space Spain is responsible for developing the UHF and military Ka-band payloads.

SpainSat NG-III features a reinforced resilient design capable of withstanding high-altitude nuclear explosions and electromagnetic pulses, meeting NATO's most stringent standards for signals intelligence, anti-jamming, and anti-spoofing. The satellite's operational coverage extends from North and South America to Europe, Africa, and the Middle East. Combined with SpainSat NG-I, launched in 2025, the overall system coverage will reach two-thirds of the Earth's total surface area.