The result of the war in Ukraine is also played in space. The American Starlink Satellite Network is currently essential to the Ukrainian army, providing the connectivity of forces on the ground.
But the unpredictable nature of its owner, the billionaire Elon Musk, worries kyiv and the European Union.
“Elon Musk is in fact the guardian of Ukraine's connectivity on the battlefield. And it is a strategic vulnerability,” warns Arthur de Liedekerke, principal director of European affairs for Rasmussen Global.
However, the deputy deputy Christophe Grudler, who is part of the parliamentary group of Renew Europe, insists that the EU has alternatives capable of competing with the American network.
“We clearly have the means to replace Starlink,” he said.
However, the French MEP does not want to have to use this possibility in a hurry, because it will take a while to replace the vast network of Starlink satellites.
“It is clear that if Starlink decides to cut the signal today, we have options, in particular with Govsatcom, which is the European network that we have put into service and which, from June, will make it possible to complete the missing signal of Starlink in Ukraine, if necessary,” he explained.
Govsatcom aims to provide existing government space capacity. The objective of the system is to provide reliable and secure networks to the public authorities of the EU. Ukraine has already expressed its interest in the system.
According to Christophe Grudler, there would be no problem with this solution.
“The European Union is very determined to help Ukraine, so there would certainly be the agreement of all the Member States to come with the help of Ukraine if he no longer had a star in the future in the future,” he said.
But Arthur de Liedekerke, principal director of European affairs of the Rasmussen Global political consulting company, has reservations on this option.
“Govsatcom is government-government-secure satellite communications and it is essentially a question of providing reliable, secure and strategically autonomous networks for communication services between EU governments. It could not replace the type of connectivity of the battlefield that we discuss for Ukraine,” he said.
“So it's not a miracle solution right now.”
The industrial solution
The other option would be to count on Eutelsat. The Franco-British company can provide quality services equivalent to Starlink because it has also opted for an orbit network on Low Land.
However, the extent of the two companies is asymmetrical. Starlink has 7,000 satellites, against 630 for Eutelsat. But Eutelsat also has 35 satellites in geostationary orbit, at a greater distance from the earth.
ADVERTISEMENTThe Eutelsat option raises an industrial and commercial problem. Starlink has around 40,000 terminals in Ukraine, which are not only used by the military. Civilians also use it to connect to the Internet or to make calls.
On the other hand, Eutelsat has 2,000 terminals on site. 4,000 others could be deployed shortly and an order was made for 10,000 other devices. Finally, the price of a Starlink terminal is estimated at 500 euros euros, against almost € 9,000 for Eutelsat equipment.
But the European company has political advantages, among them, among which it does not depend on the United States.
“Eutelsat is our European champion, which has convincing operating solutions. And which we must be able to support by financing and political will,” said Arthur de Liedekerke.
ADVERTISEMENTThe solution for the future
A medium -term final option exists in the form of the IRIS2 project (infrastructure for resilience, interconnection and satellite security).
This network of 290 multi-orbit satellites, in low and medium terrestrial orbit, will provide secure connectivity services for the EU.
The constellation will offer low latency in the form of ultra-fast transmissions near the performance of land networks.
The 12-year-private public concession contract for the development and operation of IRIS2 was awarded to Spacerise.
ADVERTISEMENTThe consortium includes Eutelsat, Spain Hispasat and the SSE of Luxembourg, as well as the heavy goods vehicles of the Thales space sector, OHB, Airbus Defense and Space, Teletpazio, Deutsche Telekom, Orange and Hisdesat.
However, IRIS2 is still far from the implementation, because the system will not be fully operational before 2030.
But Christophe Grudler, who was a rapporteur for the project in the European Parliament, is convinced that the services will be available earlier.
“From 2028, we will have an IRIS2 operational constellation which will be able to provide telecommunications services to all the Member States who wish. I would add that it will be the first time that we will have a secure constellation with post-health cryptography, so cyber-attacts will not be possible on this case with a first signal.
ADVERTISEMENTAccording to Arthur de Liedekerke, this diversity is essential.
“It is a question of having options. It is a question of not having a single point of failure. It is to be able to say no to one and always online. And today, we are not in a situation where we can do it,” he explained.
“We have left the connectivity of the Ukraine war area to be in the hands of a man … It is a strategic vulnerability. By having options, having alternatives, by diversifying our partnerships, we avoid this unique point of failure.”
