OHB wins a €554m contract to lead a new Sentinel-3 satellite
ESA has selected OHB as prime contractor for the next Sentinel-3 topography satellite. The award is large, but its revenue and profit will arrive through a multi-year programme.
OHB SE has won a contract worth more than €554 million to develop the next Sentinel-3 topography satellite for the European Space Agency. The satellite will form part of Copernicus, Europe’s Earth-observation programme, and will measure sea levels, inland waters and ice. The contract includes an option for a second satellite.
OHB System will act as prime contractor, coordinating a European industrial consortium as well as developing the spacecraft. That role fits the company’s existing business: OHB builds satellite platforms, integrates specialist instruments and brings the complete system through testing. The award is equivalent to about 46% of OHB’s €1.22 billion revenue in 2025, but it should not be read as sales for one year.
Space programmes run over several years, and part of the contract value can pass to consortium partners and suppliers. OHB has not disclosed the delivery schedule, revenue recognition, margin, subcontracted share or value of the second-satellite option. The €554 million is therefore contracted programme value, not immediate revenue or profit.
The award adds another large European institutional project after OHB’s almost €1 billion IRIS² satellite-platform contract announced in August. It also supports the company’s claim that it can lead complex spacecraft programmes, not merely supply components. The next useful evidence will be the programme timetable, movement in OHB’s order backlog and progress through design, assembly and testing.