Metlen Energy Metals (LSE:MTLN) has signed a collaboration agreement with Thales Alenia Space and Thales Hellas to jointly explore opportunities tied to Greece's prospective defence telecommunications space programme.
Thales Alenia Space is a joint venture between Thales, which holds 67%, and Leonardo, which holds 33%; Thales Hellas is also party to the agreement.
The three companies will establish a framework to assess how their combined capabilities could contribute to a future end-to-end defence telecommunications space system, with the stated aim of supporting Greece's sovereignty, security and strategic autonomy in space while building domestic industrial and technological capacity through technology transfer and skills development.
Metlen's contribution runs through its defence unit, M Technologies, and the agreement envisages the potential use of Metlen's gallium production capabilities in supply chains for satellites built by Thales Alenia Space and delivered globally, complementing Thales Alenia Space's expertise in secure telecommunications satellites and ground infrastructure.
Metlen's gallium project is being developed at a planned facility in Greece designed to produce 50 tonnes a year, a venture the European Commission has designated a Strategic Project under the Critical Raw Materials Act and which has secured European Investment Bank financing under the REPowerEU framework.
The company has already signed two long-term commercial agreements covering gallium from that facility, supplying roughly a quarter of annual output to a US technology company and up to 16% to a Japanese chemical company, with commercial production due to begin in the third quarter of 2027.
Thales Alenia Space's proposed satellite solution would rely on a telecommunications platform the companies describe as internationally recognised for reliability, robustness and time-to-market efficiency, using flight-proven technologies intended to give Greece secure, sovereign and jam-resistant communications capabilities.
The agreement marks a preparatory framework rather than a contracted programme, positioning the three companies to respond as Greece's defence telecommunications space ambitions take shape.