European Commission Defence and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius and Polish Minister of Interior and Administration Marcin Kierwiński sign Poland's commitment to IRIS² on July 21. Photo: European Commission

Poland has committed 656 million euro ($748 million) to Europe’s IRIS² satellite constellation, saying the investment will ensure "strategic communications security" for the nation. Under the agreement signed Tuesday in Warsaw, Poland will fund six satellites in Medium-Earth Orbit (MEO) and six satellites in Low-Earth Orbit (LEO) to function as a Polish constellation, within IRIS². In addition, a satellite gateway will be built in Warsaw to connect the satellites to the government’s GovNet fiber-optic network. The Polish government said in…