Metlen is exploring opportunities in new areas by joining forces with Thales Alenia Space and Thales Hellas, with a view to jointly preparing for future opportunities under Greece’s defence space telecommunications programme.
The three companies have signed a cooperation agreement, bringing together their capabilities to support Greece’s ambition to strengthen its sovereignty, security and strategic autonomy in the space sector.
It also aims to maximise the participation of the national industrial ecosystem through the transfer of expertise and skills development, helping to build high-value-added industrial and technological capabilities in Greece’s space sector.
Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales (67%) and Leonardo (33%).
M Technologies’ role
Under the agreement, the partners will assess how their expertise and industrial capabilities could contribute to a future integrated defence space telecommunications system.
Metlen will participate through M Technologies, while its gallium production capabilities could also potentially be used in supply chains for future satellites made by Thales Alenia Space, which will be delivered to customers worldwide. This prospect would complement Thales Alenia Space’s expertise in secure telecommunications satellites and related ground infrastructure.
Market sources told Euro2day.gr that Metlen has a long-standing presence in defence and large metal structures, while the development of M Technologies is based on pursuing opportunities as they arise, including in new areas.
The same sources point out that the potential inclusion of gallium in Thales’s supply chains under the space agreement highlights both the importance of the material and Metlen’s strategic foresight in investing in its production. Combined with the company’s unique position in developing gallium production in Europe, this prospect adds particular significance to the cooperation.
Gallium agreements
The first industrial production of gallium is scheduled for 2027. Metlen has already signed two long-term commercial agreements: one with a US technology company, covering about 25% of its annual gallium production, and another with a Japanese chemicals company, for a volume equivalent to up to 16% of annual production. The names of the two companies have not been disclosed.
Further partnerships for gallium, which is used in a range of applications, including defence systems, are also being assessed, according to the same sources. This adds another dimension beyond M Technologies’ operations at its factories in Volos, further underscoring the significance of the cooperation.
The same sources stress that Metlen is the only company developing gallium production in Europe. This takes on particular significance as China accounts for the overwhelming majority of global production and has imposed restrictions on exports of the metal.
Thales Alenia Space’s satellite solution
Thales Alenia Space, for its part, is proposing a satellite solution based on a telecommunications platform recognised internationally for its reliability, resilience and speed of implementation. The system will use technologies that have already been used on space missions, with the aim of providing secure communications under Greek control and resistant to interference.