Europe wants its own Starlink. But it’s on course for five failures instead

The war in Ukraine changed Europe’s view of space forever. Not because satellites suddenly became important – they already were. But because Europe was forced to confront an uncomfortable reality which made one American commercial system essential to European security almost overnight.

Without Starlink, Ukraine’s battlefield communications would have looked very different. The war demonstrated that modern military operations now depend on resilient satellite connectivity for communications, coordination, targeting, reconnaissance and drone operations. It also exposed something Europe had long preferred not to think about too deeply: Europe does not currently possess a comparable sovereign capability of its own.

That realisation triggered a political shockwave across European capitals. Suddenly, space is no longer viewed as a niche industrial sector or a long-term innovation project. It is now understood as critical infrastructure and a matter of strategic…