Commercial launches are now delayed by at least six months from the original timeline. The company has a launch scheduled for a prototype satellite (BlueBird 6/FM1) in early December 2025, (on an Indian rocket) with the second (BB7) being delivered to Cape Canaveral this month with a launch soon after.
Chairman and CEO Abel Avellan told analysts that AST continued to build commercial momentum, most recently highlighted by its definitive agreements with Verizon and Saudi Telecom Group.
“Bluebird 8 to 19 are in various stages of production, and we are on schedule to complete 40 satellites equivalent of microns by early 2026, bringing us to Bluebird 46,” said Avellan.
AST’s strong demand was reflected in the report it had won more than $1 billion in aggregate contracted revenue commitments from partners as it advances towards commercial service rollout, and a ninth contract awarded to AST by the U.S. government.
Scott Wisniewski, AST’s President referred to the recent reports that a major European link-up between AST and Vodafone could lead to AST becoming the supplier top the European Commission’s IRIS2 mega-constellation. The company said “Twenty-one of the 25 top operators in Europe have basically committed or are expected to be part of the network and the constellation that we are building as part of our constellation, but with certain features for the European MNOs.”
Wisniewski said he did not want to comment on new contracts while others suggest an IRIS2 contract from Europe seems “very likely”.