KONGSBERG unveils sovereign satellite communications offering powered by Meridian

The companies have signed an agreement to deliver government‑controlled low‑earth orbit (LEO) broadband constellations, pairing KONGSBERG’s end‑to‑end satellite infrastructure expertise - including spacecraft platforms and subsystems, secure ground stations and gateways, mission operations, systems integration, accreditation for classified programs, and assured launch access options with SpinLaunch’s highly differentiated Meridian architecture.

Camilla Kiss, President at Kongsberg Discovery, underlines the importance of the new solution and the agreement.

“In a world that is both contested and constantly connected, resilient sovereign communications are essential to national security and civil preparedness. By partnering with SpinLaunch, we are aligning Meridian’s LEO architecture with KONGSBERG’s end‑to‑end expertise in satellites, ground systems, and mission operations to offer allied governments more capacity, faster deployment, and full sovereign control across space and ground,” she says.

By combining KONGSBERG’s full-stack space and ground capabilities with Meridian’s breakthrough communications payload and constellation design, the companies are delivering a sovereign-ready, end-to-end solution for government users. The offering provides greater bandwidth, faster deployment timelines, and sovereign control across both space and ground segments, supporting defence communications, ISR data backhaul, and civil preparedness through efficient, scalable operations.

The agreement builds on the companies’ existing partnership and advances the commercialization of the Meridian constellation. Leveraging a novel architecture, Meridian is designed to deliver higher capacity and lower lifecycle costs, enabling rapid, scalable deployment with fewer launches and simplified global coverage.

As part of the collaboration, KONGSBERG will support both the dual-use Meridian system and Meridian Defense, SpinLaunch’s recently announced purpose-built defence constellation, which is architected to route data through space rather than terrestrial relay points, improving resilience, security, and operational independence in denied or degraded environments.

“KONGSBERG brings a proven track record in delivering mission-critical defense systems and space capabilities,” said Massi Ladovaz, CEO of SpinLaunch. “Meridian introduces a fundamentally different communications architecture - one that dramatically improves performance while reducing cost and complexity. Together, we are combining a differentiated payload and constellation design with KONGSBERG’s full-stack infrastructure and defense heritage to deliver a sovereign capability that governments can deploy, control, and scale on their own terms.”

KONGSBERG’s subsidiary Kongsberg NanoAvionics was previously contracted by SpinLaunch to deliver 280 satellites for Meridian’s initial constellation. The Meridian payload is now flight-qualified and progressing toward integration with the Kongsberg NanoAvionics platform ahead of its First Customer Link (FCL) mission. The program remains on track for launch in October 2026 aboard SpaceX’s Transporter-18 mission.