After the US withdraws military aid and intelligence sharing from the country this week, Europe is rushing to provide Ukraine with an alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink broadband satellite network.
Four large satellite operators in Luxembourg, hisdesat in Spain, Viesat, Inmarsat in the UK and Eutersat/Oneweb in France have all confirmed in the financial era that they are meetings with governments and EU institutions on how they provide backup connectivity to Ukraine.
However, replacing ubiquitous laptop-sized devices that have become so important to Ukraine’s defense against Russian invasions remains high order. According to Ukrainian Digital Minister Mykhailo Fedorov, more than 40,000 terminals are operated across the military, hospitals, businesses and aid organizations.
Miguel Angel García Primo, chief executive of Spain’s secure government satellite service provider Hisdesat, said his company was contacted by several European officials. “We’re part of this initiative,” he said.
He added that last week’s clash at the elliptical office between Donald Trump and Ukraine’s Voldeemy Zelenkie encouraged “an immediate debate over whether the EU could offer alternatives.”
Volunteers sit near Starlink terminal, built for local residents on Herson Street, Ukraine ©oleksandr ratushniak/reuters
This week, European leaders gathered behind Zelensky at the Brussels summit, where they also pledged to significantly improve their defensive capabilities. Ukrainian Defence Minister Rustem Umerov spoke with German counterpart Boris Pistorius in Berlin, including his efforts to set up European backups to Starlink.
Zelenskyy plans to begin talks with the US to end the war next week, but concerns remain that access to Starlink could be used to pressure Kyiv to agree to a deal that is unfavourable.
Starlink’s speed and reliability have become an integral part of the way wars are fought in Ukraine. In command posts installed in basements or hideouts, officers get a constant, real-time footage stream used to direct artillery fire or drone strikes.
According to Pablo Narozhny, a Ukrainian military expert, the Ukrainian military also uses Starlink as it is less vulnerable to Russian jamming devices compared to traditional radio communications.
However, the service has been patchy in recent months, especially in areas close to the forefront. “It was like that for a while,” said a drone operator near a base in eastern Ukraine in Pokrovsk, which Russian troops have been trying to capture since last year.
In the short term, patchwork of European services operated from various trajectories can be used as backup. This is for secure government communication and internet connections in cities, hospitals and energy plants.
However, “Because of the accumulation of Starlink over the years, it is extremely difficult, if not impossible, to deploy the same number of terminals Starlink already has,” García Primo said.
“There are options, but none can provide the level of supply that Starlink has.” Even if all European capabilities for Ukraine are consolidated, that would not yet fall short of what Starlink has to offer,” said Lluc Palerm Serra, research director at Space Consultancy Analysismason.
Starlink flies over 7,000 satellites in low orbits about 550km above sea level. Satellites travel very quickly across every point on Earth, allowing constant access to signals from the ground, he said.
Signals travel back from Earth to space faster on StarLink devices than on rival services where fewer satellites travel in higher orbit. However, the difference can be a fraction of a second, so latency can only be an issue for certain applications.
Luxembourg’s SES already serves Ukraine, said CEO Adel Al Sale. However, he also confirmed that the company is “engaged in these conversations” about increasing the country’s capabilities. He said that there has been debate over alternatives for months, but recent events have “amplified” the consultations.
Viasat said it was possible to address Ukrainian needs. “Important . . A ViaSat spokesperson told FT. “A lot more will soon be online. We are extremely pleased to have the ability and ability to support what we can do to address this critical security issue in Ukraine and Europe more widely.”
Members of the European Parliament are putting pressure on the committee to speed up their efforts to coordinate existing technology and advocate for the “Govsatcom” initiative. This will pool existing safe government satellite capabilities, but is expected to be operational next year.
“We are considering how we can best support Ukraine,” a spokesperson for the committee said earlier this week. “Govsatcom can address immediate and secure connectivity needs through the satellite capabilities of the pooled member states.”
Separately, Maxar Technologies, the largest supplier of US government commercial satellite imagery, stopped service to Ukraine this week.
But Anders Linder, head of Maxar’s international division, has shown that the company is open to workarounds, saying, “All US partners and ally commercial customers can use the data they have purchased from us, but it’s appropriate. That includes sharing with allies such as Ukraine.”
Many in Europe see the current crisis as justification for European ambitions to build their own multi-orbit broadband network in Low Earth Orbit, a project called IRIS². The 10.6 billion euro project will not be operational until 2030, so it cannot provide a short-term solution. However, two people close to the programme added urgency to the discussion about the types of platforms and services needed.
“Europe is now rethinking everything that has to do with defense, so reviewing the size of the iris would not be surprised,” Serra said.
Additional reports by Charles Clover of London, Natalia Soka of Warsaw, Henry Foy of Brussels and Laura Pitel of Berlin
