🛰 Europe cannot replace American satellites. Dependence on Starlink has become a security problem

European states do not have a ready-to-use alternative to the American satellite systems for communications and early warning. This was the conclusion reached by experts interviewed by Reuters against the backdrop of problems with the Ukrainian armed forces’ use of Starlink. Kyiv said that the military version of the system, Starshield, had limited functionality when the terminals were moving at high speed, which had made it more difficult to use drones. At the same time, Zelenskyy said that Ukraine had not received warnings from its partners about Russian ballistic-missile launches for two nights in a row.

The American satellite system “Space-Based Infrared System” detects the heat signature of missiles at launch and provides early warning of the threat. European states do not have a comparable, operational constellation. The OneWeb satellite network operated by the European company Eutelsat also cannot directly replace Starlink under military conditions. Its terminals differ in size, power consumption, and technical capabilities. In addition, switching to another network would require replacing thousands of devices. Although the EU is developing its own system with IRIS² and Germany is also working on its own military satellite constellation, it will still be years before they are fully deployed.

The current situation has exposed one of the greatest weaknesses in Europe’s defense infrastructure: its dependence on American technologies that cannot be replaced by domestic developments at short notice. This concerns not only communications, but also reconnaissance, the detection of missile launches, and the control of modern drone systems. Building an independent space infrastructure is therefore a matter of strategic security for Europe.


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