On Monday, May 11, 2026, French company Dassault Aviation and Germany’s OHB SE reached an agreement to offer the European Space Agency (ESA) the VORTEX-S multipurpose spaceplane, or Véhicule Orbital Réutilisable de Transport et d’EXploration. The concept and a visualization of the project were presented.
Image: Dassault Aviation
The VORTEX-S multipurpose spaceplane is intended to provide ESA with the capability to transport cargo to space stations and conduct autonomous free-flying orbital missions, together with a range of other European partners.
Dassault Aviation, as the prime architect and integrator of the VORTEX-S spaceplane, and OHB SE, as architect and integrator of the service module, will jointly form the core team for the proposed ESA project.
Talks are underway with other major European space companies to expand the project team, which will contribute to the development of European space mobility.
“With the Vortex-S proposal to ESA, we aim to strengthen Europe’s space capabilities. Our German friends at OHB are natural partners to participate in this project, bringing their remarkable expertise. We are very pleased with this collaboration, which promises to be highly effective,” declared Éric Trappier, Chairman and CEO of Dassault Aviation.
“Vortex-S for ESA is an ambitious initiative driven by the need for autonomous European space transportation capabilities. As one of Europe’s leading space companies, the orbital domain is our natural playing field. The partnership with Dassault Aviation is a perfect match: as family-owned high-tech companies, we share the same vision and bring complementary strengths to the development of a reusable spaceplane – Dassault Aviation as aircraft manufacturer, and OHB as space company“, said Marco Fuchs, CEO of OHB.
OHB SE is one of Europe’s leading providers of space systems. Drawing on the expertise and experience of around 4,000 highly qualified employees in Europe and abroad, the company holds a strong position internationally and has earned a reputation as a reliable partner for government institutions and private-sector customers.
Through its three business units ‒ Space Systems, Access to Space, and Digital ‒ OHB offers comprehensive space technologies. The company’s activities include the development of complete satellite systems and the production of components for the aerospace industry, the implementation of ground infrastructure, mission operations, and the use of satellite data in a wide range of applications.
Photo: Blervis via Wikimedia Commons (CC0 1.0)
MILMAG Commentary
A scale model of VORTEX-S was presented at Space Symposium 2026 in Colorado Springs, United States, on April 13–16 ‒ pictured above ‒ although the first declarations concerning the project had already been made at Paris Air Show 2025. ESA expressed interest in cooperation on a scaled-down suborbital technology demonstrator version of VORTEX.
Visually, it resembles many projects of this type, mainly smaller vehicles than the former U.S. Space Shuttle or the Soviet Buran. These include the best-known U.S. classified unmanned spaceplane, the Boeing X-37B; India’s RLV, or Reusable Launch Vehicle; China’s Haolong, CSSHQ, or Chongfu Shiyong Shiyan Hangtian Qi, and a third vehicle of undisclosed name; the crewed Dream Chaser; and Japan’s WIRES, or Winged Reusable Sounding rocket. Their common feature is launch using a carrier rocket ‒ inside the payload fairing thanks to their smaller size, unlike the historical U.S. and Soviet programs ‒ and return to Earth with a runway landing like a conventional aircraft.
It is worth adding that work is underway in Europe on several projects, such as Space Rider, or Space Reusable Integrated Demonstrator for Europe Return, being developed for ESA by Avio and Thales Alenia Space on the basis of the IXV project under the PRIDE program; ReFEx, or Reusable Flight Experiment, and Aurora for the German Aerospace Center, DLR; the orbital ÉTOILE and suborbital ENVOL vehicles of French company AndroMach, with support from the French space agency CNES; and finally the hypersonic INVICTUS, intended to test reusable technologies.
#DassaultAviation et OHB s'associent pour proposer à l'ESA l'avion spatial polyvalent VORTEX-Shttps://t.co/TaI3lbmORG
Dassault Aviation and OHB team up to propose to ESA the VORTEX-S multipurpose space plane https://t.co/HiiCQIxC5X
© Dassault Aviation – Falcon Graphics Lab pic.twitter.com/o4g9pmCUSp
— Dassault Aviation (@Dassault_OnAir) May 11, 2026