The fact that the United States has become an unreliable partner for Europe is hardly news. In reality, no one trusts the current U.S. administration. Russia, meanwhile, is simply using its influence over Donald Trump and, through him, the broader administration to advance its own objectives.

Trump's representatives — real estate businessman Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner, Trump's son-in-law, who previously drew attention for influence-peddling allegations — are pursuing some form of business dealings with Moscow, though exactly what those dealings involve remains unclear.

Europe pays the United States for weapons that Washington is supposed to deliver to Ukraine but often fails to provide on time, or at all. And if I am not mistaken, Poland is paying Elon Musk's company for Starlink services in Ukraine. Yet those services experienced an outage in October, and it hardly matters whether that happened on Trump's orders or at Musk's own discretion. What matters is that transatlantic partners can no longer be relied upon.

Under these circumstances, Europe has little choice but to acknowledge the mistake of having created such dependencies and try to correct the situation, even though doing so will require both time and money.

This time, I will focus on space communications and the intelligence capabilities they provide. There are several plans in motion and work is underway. In January of this year, the European Union launched the Govsatcom satellite communications system. It integrates existing satellite assets from member states and is viewed as an interim step before the full deployment of Europe's IRIS satellite constellation.

In August, the European Commission and SpaceRise, the consortium responsible for building IRIS, signed an agreement under which the system is expected by 2029 to provide not only communications services but also capabilities meeting military requirements. Separate communications channels have been developed specifically for defense purposes.

According to a European Commission announcement issued in early August, the system will consist of 348 satellites. Of those, 330 will operate in low Earth orbit and 18 in medium Earth orbit. The satellites have been ordered from Airbus, while military communications channels will be supplied by Thales.

One distinctive feature of Govsatcom is that it pools capabilities from different countries, unlike Starlink, which functions as a standalone system. A more direct European equivalent to Starlink is OneWeb, owned by the Franco-British satellite operator Eutelsat, whose satellites also operate in low Earth orbit. While Starlink has more than 11,000 satellites in orbit, Eutelsat has 650.

In March, Eutelsat began negotiations with the European Union to expand internet services in Ukraine, with implementation expected early next year. This January, Eutelsat also ordered an additional 340 satellites from Airbus. France has already signed a €1 billion contract to use OneWeb.

Work is also underway to duplicate, if not eventually replace, the GPS navigation system. Europe continues to expand Galileo and plans to have 34 satellites in orbit by the end of next year. Its main military capability is the encrypted Public Regulated Service (PRS) signal for governments and armed forces. In addition, deployment has begun for 10 experimental LEO PNT satellites, intended to ensure navigation services remain operational even in the event of signal jamming, interference or spoofing attempts.

Efforts are also progressing at the national level. In October, Germany's armed forces gained direct access to their own radar satellites under the SPOCK-1 program. The operators are Germany's Rheinmetall and Finland's ICEYE. Production of the required satellites is already underway in Germany.

Rumor has it that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia are also exploring access to SPOCK-1 services. In fact, the program was reportedly launched specifically to cover the Suwałki Gap and the German brigade stationed in Lithuania.

In October, ICEYE also announced a partnership agreement with Nokia to develop secure, sovereign and technologically advanced broadband satellite communications systems for governments. These systems would operate in low Earth orbit and be used for both defense purposes and emergency and crisis communications. The satellites would be built using European technology.

France launched its third CSO-3 satellite into orbit aboard a European Ariane 6 rocket in October. In addition to France, Germany and Belgium are financing the project, while Spain has secured access to the satellite imagery through 2033.

In July, Paris and Berlin agreed to deepen cooperation in satellite intelligence and to jointly launch satellites using Ariane 6 rockets. The goal is to reduce dependence on U.S. decisions.

Poland, for its part, has already begun operating its own military satellites. Since last November, four radar satellites equipped with synthetic aperture radar (SAR) technology, capable of seeing through clouds and operating at night, have been in orbit. Poland has also said it intends to share the resulting intelligence with Ukraine.

In mid-October, French Foreign Minister Jean-Noël Barrot said that two-thirds of the intelligence Ukraine receives from its Western partners is already of European origin. Experts believe, however, that Europe will still need another two to three years to fully free itself from dependence on American satellite data and communications.

It should also be noted that Russia is developing its own Starlink equivalent, called Rassvet, meaning "dawn." The first satellites were launched in March and July, placing 32 satellites into orbit. The plan calls for a total of 924 satellites by 2035, including around 300 by the end of next year.

So far, however, none of the satellites has reached its intended orbit at an altitude of 800 kilometers. One has already fallen back to Earth, while efforts are underway to raise the others using onboard propulsion systems, though reports indicate technical problems. They may ultimately remain operational in lower orbits. Russia is attempting to solve these issues through cooperation with China, but time will tell.

In any case, efforts are underway both in Europe to reduce dependence on American services and in Russia to deploy its own alternatives.

Further reading

• GOVSATCOM | EU Space Policy
• Starlink, "Rassvet," and the European alternative: Why satellites aren't enough for independence | Межа
• European Union is accelerating and reinforcing IRIS²
• Russia's Starlink substitute poses a security threat far beyond Ukraine - Atlantic Council
• ICEYE and Nokia partner to launch secure and sovereign satellite communications for governments and defense customers
• Germany gains dedicated SAR satellite access - IN Defence
• Russia's Latest Starlink Rival Satellites Are Falling Out of Orbit | PCMag 

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