PARIS. India and France are broadening their long-standing space relationship beyond government agencies, with companies from both countries signing three agreements focused on satellite launches, space surveillance and microsatellite technology.
The agreements were announced during the International Space Summit in Paris, held on September 9 and 10. The summit brought together governments, space agencies, companies and scientists, and featured 51 announcements representing roughly €20 billion in contracts, investments and other commitments.
The largest agreement involves France’s Safran Space and India’s Dhruva Space. The companies signed contracts worth more than €5 million for equipment and systems intended for India’s planned SBS-III space-surveillance constellation.
The package includes communication systems, inertial navigation units, optical payloads and ground stations. The constellation is expected to comprise 52 satellites, with deployment planned between 2027 and 2030.
The project is designed to strengthen India’s ability to monitor objects in orbit and develop sovereign space-surveillance capabilities. It also reflects the growing role of private companies in India’s space programme after reforms opened satellite manufacturing, launch services, ground infrastructure and space-based applications to commercial players.
Safran’s latest partnership with Dhruva Space builds on the French company’s broader involvement in India’s space programme, including its contribution to the Chandrayaan-III lunar mission and its expanding industrial presence in the country.
A second agreement links French launch-services provider RIDE! with TakeMeToSpace, an Indian company described as the country’s first designer of orbital data centres. RIDE! will launch two satellites for the Indian firm.
The deal follows earlier cooperation between RIDE! and Indian space companies, including the integration, launch and return of a European atmospheric re-entry capsule aboard India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle, or PSLV. The agreement highlights the increasing use of commercial launch providers to support emerging space businesses.
A third partnership brings together French space company U-Space and Indian engineering firm AXISCADES. The companies will explore opportunities in India’s microsatellite market, targeting commercial and institutional demand.
Their cooperation is expected to follow a phased roadmap under India’s “Make in India” policy. The arrangement will combine French satellite technology with India’s engineering, manufacturing and industrial-integration capabilities.
The new agreements add a private-sector dimension to a relationship that has traditionally been anchored by the Indian Space Research Organisation and France’s National Centre for Space Studies, known by its French acronym CNES.
India and France have cooperated in space for more than five decades, working across Earth observation, space geodesy, human spaceflight, launch-vehicle technologies, planetary exploration, maritime awareness and space situational awareness.
Their joint projects include the TRISHNA Earth-observation mission, which is intended to provide high-resolution thermal-infrared observations of Earth’s surface. The countries have also created a Strategic Space Dialogue covering civil and defence-related cooperation. The first meeting took place in Paris in June 2023, followed by a second meeting in New Delhi in March 2024.
Commercial launch links between the two countries are also well established. India’s PSLV has carried French satellites, while France’s Arianespace has launched several Indian geostationary satellites.
The latest deals come as both countries seek greater strategic autonomy and secure access to space. For India, French partnerships could provide specialised technologies, international supply-chain access and opportunities to scale its New Space companies. French firms, meanwhile, gain access to India’s expanding market, engineering talent and cost-competitive manufacturing base.
The agreements suggest that India-France space cooperation is entering a more commercially driven phase-one in which national security, industrial policy and private innovation increasingly intersect.
