Rivada Space Networks has had an eventful couple of years, filled with litigation between various parties over ownership, frequency rights and disputes between CEO Declan Ganley and former business partners. To its credit it has managed to sail through these challenges, but one has to read between the lines to ascertain whether it can proceed with its plans to launch a total of 600 sophisticated low Earth orbiting satellites, half of which must be in place by mid-2026, less than 24 months from now. Rivada has yet to deploy a single satellite, even for test purposes.

The cost of the constellation is huge: some $2.42 billion. For much of the past two years Ganley has given interview after interview outlining the clear benefits of his laser-equipped, and thus highly secure, fleet. But first the satellites must be built and launched.

In February 2023 Rivada signed with Boca Raton-based Terran Orbital to design and manufacture the fleet. But other than minor stage payments it seems that the major bulk of the financing (“from a Middle East sovereign wealth fund”) has failed to arrive. The delays caused Terran to suspend all work on the Rivada contract until more cash was on the table. Terran was building a new 94,000 sq ft factory for the Rivada business, but was fast running out of money and Lockheed Martin (LM) stepped in with a $450 million rescue.

LM looked at Terran’s books and determined that Terran had a major problem: the Rivada contract. Rivada had only paid $13.4 million to Terran for early-stage work on its constellation and reportedly significantly less than the $180 million expected. Rivada is reported to have missed key stage payment obligations to Terran which were claimed to be essential to the project’s development.

LM, in its March offer to buy Terran, made its opinion abundantly clear that it did not believe Rivada’s financing was in place. LM in August said that it was now Terran’s biggest customer, with no mention of Rivada and stated bluntly that LM accounts for 91 percent of Terran’s current funded backlog of contracts if Rivada is ignored.

“We are carrying on with Terran as our supplier and we don’t expect the acquisition to affect our contract with them or our timelines,” a Rivada spokesperson commented on August 16th.

However, it has now emerged that Rivada Space Networks was on August 19th ordered by a Munich court to pay an overdue bill from OHB System for a Phase 2 study contract dating back to 2022. The amount is €1.76 million, plus accumulating interest. On September 18th an official from OHB said the bill has now increased to more than €2.2 million.

Ganley is quoted as saying that an amicable solution was in the process of being concluded.

But you have to wonder!

Other posts by Chris Forrester:

1. Starlink tests D2C in Romania, US, Japan
2. European telcos unite against Starlink D2C
3. Rivada insists “deadlines will be met”
4. Ergen will gain “greatest opportunity” by losing DISH
5. Rivada’s latest problems could be fatal
6. SES confirms 25c dividend
7. Intelsat gets licence to rescue Galaxy 25
8. Bank downgrades Virgin Galactic
9. EchoStar fails to find extra cash

Categories: Blogs, Business, Inside Satellite, Satellite

Tags: Lockheed Martin, rivada