Hisdesat

Hisdesat Servicios Estratégicos, S.A. is a Spanish government-backed satellite operator, established in 2001 and headquartered in Madrid, that provides secure satellite communications and Earth observation services principally to the Spanish Ministry of Defence, Spanish government agencies and allied governments, alongside commercial customers. It was founded with an initial investment of around €415 million by a consortium of Spanish shareholders including Hispasat, Ingeniería y Servicios Aeroespaciales (Indra Espacio/INSA), EADS CASA (now Airbus Defence and Space), Indra Sistemas and SENER.

Hisdesat operates three satellite systems. Its secure military communications fleet comprises XTAR-EUR (launched 2005, operated jointly with the U.S. under the XTAR joint venture) and Spainsat (launched 2006), both providing encrypted X-band and other secure communications in geostationary orbit for Spanish and allied military users; a next-generation satellite, Spainsat NG, has been developed to replace this capacity. For Earth observation, Hisdesat operates Paz, a synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) satellite launched in 2018 that provides all-weather, day-and-night imaging for defence, security, maritime surveillance and civil applications. Hisdesat also operates a satellite-based Automatic Identification System (AIS) capability for maritime vessel tracking.

Ownership of Hisdesat has changed with consolidation in the Spanish satellite sector: following Indra Group's acquisition of an 89.68% stake in Hispasat completed around January 2026, Indra became Hisdesat's majority shareholder through its Hispasat holding. Hisdesat is led by CEO Ana María Molina Sánchez (Consejera Delegada), with Miguel Ángel García Primo serving as General Director. As a dual-use strategic asset for Spain, Hisdesat's satellites combine government/defence funding with commercial service offerings, making it one of the relatively few European satellite operators built specifically around sovereign secure-communications and reconnaissance requirements.