Space Security Procurement in Europe: A Stage Map for Suppliers

On 28 October 2026, Astroscale announced that its UK subsidiary, Astroscale Ltd, has been awarded a £15 million UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) contract as prime contractor for LEDA, a new defence programme. According to European Spaceflight, a regulatory filing shows that the multi-year contract was signed on 29 September and that details of the services were withheld at the customer's request. For a European supplier, the useful question is where that contract sits among other space-security purchases on the public record, and which a company can still enter.

What changed in late October and early November

LEDA is the only signed contract among this autumn's new records on the map. BAE Systems and Open Cosmos are key partners, and a quoted MoD official says LEDA will be manufactured, launched and operated by Astroscale UK. European Spaceflight notes that its intended capabilities, mission architecture and launch timetable remain undisclosed. Astroscale, 28 October; European Spaceflight.

It is not the first MoD contract awarded with the same three companies involved. In June 2025, the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl), an MoD agency, awarded Astroscale UK £5.15 million for the Orpheus mission through BAE Systems as lead of Dstl's Serapis framework, with Open Cosmos building the spacecraft as subcontractor. Orpheus completed its critical design review in April 2026.

PAVE Space says its first IBEX demonstrator passed its preliminary design review in October 2026 and is scheduled for launch to low Earth orbit as early as February 2028, as a platform carrying payloads of up to 300 kg. Payload reported on 6 November that PAVE is signing an unnamed defence prime as the customer for that mission. On 28 October, OHB and Astroscale announced a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to investigate joint opportunities in space security, space domain awareness and in-orbit servicing, with a focus on OHB in Germany and Astroscale's UK entity. The MoU names no buyer and no value.

The stage map

The table sets out selected public records from UK, French, German and EU buyers, by instrument, as of 9 November 2026. The two ground-based radars are different products from the in-orbit programmes and sit beside them only by procurement stage.

What the map means for a supplier

The figures in the table cannot be added together: they describe a signed contract value, a framework ceiling, a tender budget cap, an expected contract value and maximum EU grant contributions; several are ceilings rather than committed spending.

Entry routes differ too. LEDA and Orpheus reach suppliers through a prime and its named partners. PALADIN buys a service through a framework holder. YODA is a state programme with a designated industrial prime. The two EDF projects published their consortium membership at selection: TAC has seven members from France, Germany, Poland, Italy and Sweden, and ASIMOV's members include organisations from Norway, Spain and Bulgaria as well as the larger industrial countries. A company outside those lists would be looking at the members' supply chains rather than a new call for the same project.

Two competitive windows on the map have already closed. The UK radar notice closed expressions of interest on 15 October 2026; its Selection Questionnaire went to suppliers that had expressed interest and held a signed non-disclosure agreement. A separate infrastructure and enabling-works contract is expected at £5 million excluding VAT, and the notice says at least some staff on that work are likely to need SC or DV security clearance. The German Tracking Radar notice closed for requests to participate on 22 June 2026, with three candidates for the second stage. For a company not already in either process, the more realistic position is in a shortlisted bidder's supply chain. The UK infrastructure and enabling-works contract is a distinct point to follow.

The strongest alternative reading deserves weight. Most records on the map are still demonstrators, studies, consultations or tenders. Of the awarded contracts, LEDA's services are undisclosed, PALADIN is a framework ceiling and Orpheus is mission work; YODA is a state demonstrator programme. Astroscale appears in the UK contracts, the MoU with OHB and, through Astroscale France, the French civil deorbit selection, which may reflect one supplier's positioning across markets as much as buyer demand. Nor is EDF funding here new: Breaking Defense reported in May 2024 that an earlier funding round included nearly €6.5 million for a 36-month project coordinated by Agenium Space.

What to watch

In the UK, the next records are the radar award, with the award period indicatively ending on 16 July 2027, and the separate infrastructure contract. In Germany, they are an award notice for the tracking radar, any tender following the inspector-satellite consultation, and the optical-data contract notice estimated for 1 March 2027. At EU level, ASIMOV and TAC grant signature and first deliverables matter; in France, PALADIN's first use and CNES's contract for the civil deorbit mission. Among companies, PAVE's customer signature and any named bid, buyer or contract under the OHB and Astroscale MoU would move those records beyond plans.