In January, Hisdesat launched its SpainSat NG-I satellite to provide enhanced satcom capabilities to the Spanish Armed Forces. In April, NATO’s Satcom Services 6th Generation Consortium (NSS6G) welcomed two new European members with the addition of Spain and Luxembourg. And last May, the Polish Ministry of National Defense announced a staggering $227-million deal with ICEYE to grow Poland’s synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellite capability set.
These acquisitions and announcements are part of an emerging trend in Europe. Nations throughout the continent are seeking to expand their sovereign satellite capabilities while also collaborating with other European nations and multinational alliances to enhance Europe’s collective presence in space.
Industry, EU Nation-States Unite for Space Sovereignty
According to Wladyslaw Kisiniak-Kamysz, Deputy Prime Minister and Polish Minister of Defense, the recent ICEYE deal is key to Poland’s satcom freedom.
“Freedom and independence will only be defended by sovereignty and innovation.” -Wladyslaw Kisiniak-Kamysz, deputy prime minister and Polish minister of defense
“This is a great day for the Polish Armed Forces because they are gaining full independence in radar reconnaissance and imaging,” Kosiniak-Kamysz said. “Freedom and independence will only be defended by sovereignty and innovation.”
ICEYE’s VP of mission sales, Joost Elstak, echoed the deputy prime minister, pointing to Polish space sovereignty as a key factor of the partnership.
“This gives the Polish Armed Forces a sovereign capability in satellite reconnaissance, as well as the ability to support critical infrastructure monitoring and crisis management,” Elstak said. “At a time when Europe faces the challenge of expanding its defense capabilities, we as a European provider are ideally positioned to support both the development of national, sovereign satellite reconnaissance systems and collective initiatives between nations.”
Elstak said sovereign space is a growing trend across Europe. “We are observing a significant increase in interest in our capabilities from governments around the world,” Elstak said. “We observe a broader trend where nations are seeking to build and enhance their own sovereign satellite Earth observation capabilities. Having independent control over such assets is becoming increasingly critical for national security and strategic autonomy.”
Geopolitical Shift Toward Autonomy
And ICEYE isn’t the only European provider that is stepping up to bolster European space-based defense. Numerous organizations within the European space industry are uniting to bolster space-based defenses across the continent, with Thales, Leonardo, and Airbus discussing merging their space verticals. According to Airbus CEO, Guillaume Faury, these strategic steps are a result of “geopolitical shift” and demonstrate that the companies involved are “committed to European defense and strategic autonomy.”
Elstak agreed that evolving geopolitics are behind the increased desire for space sovereignty across Europe.
“In today’s complex environment, the ability to independently access and act based on solid evidence is critical to national security and economic stability.” -Joost Elstak, ICEYE
“The current trend of European nations significantly enhancing their defense and satellite capabilities is a direct response to rising geopolitical challenges and the evolving nature of modern security threats,” Elstak said. “In today’s complex environment, the ability to independently access and act based on solid evidence is critical to national security and economic stability.
“Recent conflicts, particularly the war in Ukraine, have served as a powerful demonstration that space-based defense technology proves to be critical for modern military operations,” Elstak said. “This has accelerated the demand for sovereign capabilities as nations seek to control their own intelligence sources without reliance on third parties.”
In addition to building up their sovereign space capabilities, there has been a spike in the growth of multinational space defense alliances across Europe. A NATO official told Constellations that Alliance members are looking to address risks posed by the development of adversarial, counter-space technologies that could restrict their access to, and freedom to operate in space.
“NATO Allies are cognizant of the fact that space is becoming more crowded, more competitive, and vulnerable to irresponsible behavior and malicious activities, such as jamming and spoofing of satellites,” the NATO official said.
The NATO official said that over the last six years, space became a military operational domain for NATO, and that reliance on space has been quickly growing since then.
“Since 2019, space assets have become essential to our militaries to communicate, navigate, track forces, detect missile launches, and support decision-making,” the NATO official said. “Allied investment in space-based services and assets, and NATO investment in space-based services, has been increasing steadily since.”
The Satellite Capabilities Europe is Seeking
According to Elstak, there is a broader trend in which alliances and nations are strengthening their specific space capabilities. “This involves building resilient, sovereign capabilities across Earth observation and ISR, secure satcom, and in some cases, precision navigation to ensure a decisive advantage and information superiority at the operational level,” Elstak said.
The NATO official agreed that satcom and navigation have been key capabilities that the Alliance seeks to bolster.
“Satellite communications are increasingly vital for NATO Allies because they provide secure, reliable and global connectivity, especially in remote or contested environments where terrestrial networks are unavailable or can be compromised,” the NATO official said. “They enable real-time data sharing, command and control across vast distances, enhancing situational awareness and coordination among multinational forces.”
The official explained that this is why NATO is investing more than 1 billion euros in procuring satellite communications services for the period of 2020-2034 through the NSS6G.
“In contrast to most commercial services, this military satellite communication system is able to resist against nuclear effects and jamming capabilities.” -NATO official
“In contrast to most commercial services, this military satellite communication system is able to resist against nuclear effects and jamming capabilities” the official said. “France, the UK and Italy provide super-high frequency and ultra-high frequency capacity through their Syracuse, Skynet and Sicral constellations. Spain and Luxembourg will bring additional SHF and UHF capacity to the consortium from their SpainSat NG and GovSat satellite constellations, respectively. This is the alliance’s biggest-ever investment in satellite communications.”
Considering that individual European nations are pursuing sovereign space initiatives while simultaneously backing multinational space-based defense alliances like NATO, and European industry partners aligning in support of the same goal, it is clear that Europe is working towards building self-reliant, integrated satellite and space capabilities to meet the risk of modern adversaries.
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