{"id":32570,"date":"2025-04-19T09:25:08","date_gmt":"2025-04-19T09:25:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/32570\/"},"modified":"2025-04-19T09:25:08","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T09:25:08","slug":"spain-approves-e1-billion-loan-to-hisdesat-for-paz-2-satellites","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/32570\/","title":{"rendered":"Spain Approves \u20ac1 Billion Loan to Hisdesat for PAZ 2 Satellites"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Spain-Approves-1-Billion-Euro-Loan-to-Hisdesat-for-PAZ-2-Satellites.webp.webp\" alt=\"The Spanish government has approved a \u20ac1.011 billion loan to Hisdesat for the development of two PAZ 2 Earth observation satellites.\" width=\"800\" height=\"500\" class=\"size-full wp-image-4654 lazyload\"  data- style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 800px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 800\/500;\"\/>The PAZ-1 satellite prior to its launch in 2018 | Credit: Hisdesat<\/p>\n<p>Spain\u2019s Council of Ministers has approved a loan agreement under which national satellite operator Hisdesat will receive \u20ac1.011 billion over eight years to develop a pair of PAZ 2 satellites.<\/p>\n<p>The PAZ-1 synthetic aperture radar was launched aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 in February 2018. It delivers high-resolution Earth observation imagery for a wide range of applications, including border control, intelligence, environmental monitoring, and crisis management. With the development of PAZ-2, the Spanish government, through commercial operator Hisdesat, is looking to significantly increase the system\u2019s capacity.<\/p>\n<p>During a Council of Ministers meeting on April 15, representatives from the Ministry of Defence emphasised the importance of maintaining Spain\u2019s space-based radar imaging capability beyond the lifespan of PAZ-1. According to the government, Hisdesat does not have the financial capacity to fund the development of the next-generation PAZ satellites, and financing from other sources was \u201cnot possible.\u201d This justified the Ministry of Industry and Tourism\u2019s decision to provide a \u20ac1,011,850,000 loan, to be disbursed in instalments between 2025 and 2032.<\/p>\n<p>Hisdesat is expected to receive an initial \u20ac76 million of the total amount in 2025. In 2026 and 2027, this figure will increase to \u20ac179 million and \u20ac182 million, respectively. The two largest instalments will be awarded in 2028 and 2029, with \u20ac213 million and \u20ac272 million allocated, respectively. From 2030 to 2032, the PAZ 2 satellites are expected to enter service, with the loan amounts reflecting this and dropping to well below \u20ac100 million per year.<\/p>\n<p>The loan agreement with Hisdesat represents a level of state financing that surpasses the usual limits applied to government-backed programmes in Spain. In fact, the figures outlined in the agreement exceed the thresholds set out in Spain\u2019s General Budget Law, both in total value and repayment duration. As a result, the government has had to request and obtain authorisation from the Council of Ministers to override these limits, something that is permitted under Article 47, Section 3 of the law. <\/p>\n<p>The government is not merely a passive contributor to the project, however, given its 30% stake in the company. The only shareholder with a larger stake in Hisdesat is Hispasat, which owns 43%. However, in February 2025, Spanish aerospace and IT contractor Indra reached an agreement to acquire 89.68% of Hispasat. This is significant because the Spanish government holds a 28% stake in Indra through SEPI, making it Indra\u2019s largest shareholder. As a result, Indra\u2019s acquisition of Hispasat will increase the government\u2019s indirect influence over Hisdesat.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The PAZ-1 satellite prior to its launch in 2018 | Credit: Hisdesat Spain\u2019s Council of Ministers has approved&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":32571,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5312],"tags":[2000,299,19196,104],"class_list":{"0":"post-32570","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-spain","8":"tag-eu","9":"tag-europe","10":"tag-hisdesat","11":"tag-spain"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114363912997691778","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32570","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=32570"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32570\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/32571"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=32570"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=32570"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=32570"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}