Recently, the German government announced a €35 billion ($41 billion) investment in space projects by 2030, as part of a broader long-term plan exceeding €370 billion to meet Germany’s defense needs.
The funding will drive improvements in space domain awareness, the creation of new satellite constellations for secure communications, cyber resilience, and sovereign launch capabilities. Furthermore, Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, announced the construction of a dedicated satellite operations center for the Bundeswehr.
It is therefore easy to imagine how these investments could benefit German space companies such as OHB, regarding satellite system production, and RFA and Isar Aerospace, for on-demand orbital launch services.
The German government is also supporting, in collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA), EuroSpaceport, which is going to build a sea-based launch facility in the North Sea, 50 to 100 km offshore of Denmark’s coast.
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Working with France on a European early warning system
Berlin views these investments as a way to consolidate its present and future role within Europe’s evolving defense architecture, both on the ground and in space.
While some flagship programmes are advancing quickly, others are losing momentum, underscoring the need for strategic compromises.
On October 15, 2025, the French Defense Minister Catherine Vautrin and Pistorious signed a memorandum of understanding to launch the JEWEL (Joint Early Warning for a European Lookout) initiative.
The programme has the ambitious goal of accelerating the development of a European satellite early-warning capability, to be integrated with the existing American system, on which Europe currently relies entirely.
An early-warning system allows for the rapid detection of ballistic and hypersonic missile launches and the calculation of their trajectories. By analysing data collected from space-based assets in geostationary orbit and ground-based sensors—including fixed and mobile radars—the system can issue rapid alerts and coordinate threat responses in real time.
What is early warning?
— Ministère des Armées et des Anciens combattants (@Armees_Gouv) October 29, 2025
Early warning is the ability to detect the launch of a missile, track its trajectory throughout its flight, and transmit data in real time to command centres in order to activate appropriate countermeasures, including interception.
This capability… pic.twitter.com/eYtkuKUKBi
The project aims to jointly develop and deploy fully operational assets by the early 2030s, while also creating an initial common interface. These first capabilities will form the foundation of the broader multinational initiative ODIN’s EYE II, supported by the European Defence Fund (EDF) and coordinated by the German company OHB.
As stated by the two governments, the JEWEL initiative is open to other European partners.
Meanwhile, a European consortium, led by MBDA, is developing an advanced interceptor to counter complex hypersonic threats. Last week, the program, named HYDIS (Hypersonic Defence Interceptor System), successfully completed the initial concept review.
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The rollercoaster of French-German collaboration
As always, the biggest obstacle to European projects of this kind comes from within Europe itself. In particular, France and Germany have accumulated considerable experience with the failure of major joint programmes, often with repercussions across the continent.
The sometimes difficult Franco-German relationship has had its highs and lows since the 1950s, beginning with the well-remembered rejection of the European Defence Community (EDC).
Seventy years later, the situation has not improved, as evidenced by the challenges faced by projects such as the MGCS (Main Ground Combat System) and, above all, the FCAS (Future Combat Air System) for the next-generation sixth-generation fighter — a programme now seemingly on the verge of a final breakdown between its industrial partners, Dassault Aviation and Airbus.
In the space sector, however, the outlook appears somewhat more positive. Recently, the first agreements were signed between Thales, Leonardo, and Airbus to create a major €10 billion European flagship satellite producer.
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