Ukraine's Heavy Reliance on Starlink and Europe's Satellite Gap

Ukraine is facing a satellite internet gap after a sudden Starlink slowdown last week disrupted Kyiv’s ability to defend against Russian attacks. The country relies heavily on Elon Musk’s SpaceX network for battlefield communications and military drone use, and experts say Europe does not yet have a fast, reliable alternative.

Ukraine is in desperate need of a new satellite internet service, but a fast and reliable alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink network simply does not exist yet.

Last week's sudden slowdown of the service in Ukraine, which affected Kyiv's ability to defend itself from Russian attacks, showed how vulnerable the country can be and sharply increased Europe's urgency to have its own military-grade satellite network.

Starlink and its military-grade service, Starshield, are owned by Musk's SpaceX company and have dominated the global satellite market for years. Ukraine relies on Starlink for communications on the battlefield and Starshield for military purposes like drone warfare. The network is able to provide fast, real-time connectivity, which is crucial for defence and intercepting Russian attacks.

Several of the Ukrainian troops who spoke anonymously to the BBC said reliable connectivity is the difference between life and death. One said: 'God forbid they shut it off completely, it would be an absolute catastrophe.'

For now, Ukraine's best bet is to join Govsatcom, the EU's satellite sharing network, but it cannot be used for military warfare like controlling drones.

That vulnerability was highlighted by Musk himself on Saturday, when he accused Ukraine of violating Starlink's terms of service by using it for 'drone strikes to kill people'. He wrote on X that the violation would result in the end of service.

Experts said there are a few alternatives, but they are all lagging behind Starlink, which is the world's largest satellite constellation. France's Eutelsat, with its OneWeb internet service, is the main alternative, but it only has about 600 active satellites, compared with Starlink's 10,000-plus.

The EU is working on a new network to rival Starlink, Iris², however it won't be up and running until 2029. The ambitious project is Europe's answer to Starlink and Starshield. It will be a defence-first programme, the European Commission says, with a focus on governments, military and emergency services. Ukraine has been guaranteed access to it from day one.

Even if Ukraine could connect to the EU's Govsatcom network, it would likely be as a reliable back-up to Starlink and Starshield, not a full military replacement. The EU hopes commercial companies such as Eutelsat's OneWeb will join the programme by the start of next year, giving Ukraine some but not all of its military network needs.

Other options are also being explored. Finland's Nokia and ICEYE announced this week that they would look at developing satellite communications for Ukraine's military defences. A joint venture between European satellite makers Airbus, Leonardo and Thales, called Project Bromo, is hoped to be another competitor against SpaceX, but it is still in very early phases.

Space projects take a long time and need a lot of money, one former Eutelsat CEO said. Designing the programme, making the satellites, launching them and then having enough of them in orbit for full coverage takes many years.

Source: BBC World.