By Julia Payne
BRUSSELS, Jan 27 (Reuters) – The European Union’s multi-orbit array of 290 satellites known as IRIS2 should be able to start initial communication services in 2029, marking an acceleration in the bloc’s space industry efforts, the EU defence and space commissioner said on Tuesday.
IRIS2 is a response to Elon Musk’s Starlink and other fast-growing internet networks and will have an encrypted backbone for EU governments and public agencies, as well as providing high-speed WiFi for European citizens.
Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and political tensions with the United States have accelerated Europe’s drive to support sensitive assets such as satellites, which increasingly overlap with defence.
“Europe needs to have its own sovereign military cloud,” EU defence and space commissioner Andrius Kubilius told reporters on the sidelines of the European Space Conference.
IRIS2 was expected to start in 2030, but Kubilius said some services for governments could start a year earlier.
While IRIS2 remains a few years away, last week the EU launched GOVSATCOM, which connects eight satellites from five EU countries to provide some initial communications services to governments and militaries in all 27 member states.
Kubilius said that meant Europe would not be left with “zero” services over the next three years, though he added: “Given all the geopolitical elements we should speed up. We are quite dependent on American services.”
Catching up on early missile warning and satellite launch capabilities remain challenges, he said. The rate of EU satellite launches lags far behind those of Musk’s SpaceX.
Some initiatives have already started at the national level.
Germany has dedicated 35 billion euros ($41.58 billion) to space defence, and it joined forces with France last year to develop a satellite-based missile early warning system called Odin’s Eye by the early 2030s.
($1 = 0.8418 euros)
(Reporting by Julia Payne;Editing by Sudip Kar-Gutpa, Aidan Lewis)
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