The European Commission is compiling a list of satellite services ready for use by military forces, which will be useful for EU capitals within the framework of the bloc's brand new satellite constellation, Andrius Kubilius, European Commissioner for Defense and Space, told Euractiv, UNN reports.
Details
As part of efforts to strengthen the bloc's defense, the EU wants to launch a project that involves investing billions of euros in satellites capable of transmitting high-definition images of any location on Earth to governments at approximately 30-minute intervals, the publication writes.
"Since geo-intelligence data is very much needed, we will also consider, in the first phase... using commercial data and seeing how we can integrate national assets, and then in parallel build a completely new EU system," Kubilius said.
A review of the necessary user requirements should be ready in the new year, the former Lithuanian leader added, and then negotiations will also depend on how funds allocated for defense and space will be distributed in the next long-term EU budget.
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"Member states make a request, and we prepare what are called user requirements - what they specifically need," he said. "This is a critically important, strategic project."
Although billions will be needed from the EU budget, member countries of the European Space Agency (ESA), some of which are in the EU but also include Switzerland, Norway, and the UK, last week agreed to allocate 1.2 billion euros for early work on the program.
In addition to surveillance systems, the program will also have navigation and communication components.
Ministers from ESA countries have been given another year to decide whether they want to contribute additional funding, officials confirmed after a ministerial meeting in Bremen, with weekly talks with European Commission technical experts on the final satellite constellation project.
The European Commission has already stated that it wants to launch the so-called "Space Shield" initiative in 2026, which will include Earth monitoring capabilities.
Definition and deployment
The next step for Kubilius's team is to develop a political mandate for the network and define how it will be deployed together with ESA.
The EU already has three so-called "flagship" space programs, including Galileo, the world's most accurate geo-navigation satellite constellation, and Copernicus, a network of Earth observation spacecraft and ground stations for monitoring climate change, which are already operational.
A third program, called IRIS², is planned as a reliable alternative to Elon Musk's Starlink satellite communication network. A consortium of major European aerospace players is currently developing a technical plan for deploying 282 satellites in various orbits. They are also expected to be launched in early 2026.
Speaking in Bremen, Kubilius stated that he was not against the efforts of Airbus, Thales, and Leonardo, all working on IRIS², to merge their space ventures to better compete in the global satellite market.
"We should not be afraid of size... this is what improves our competitive capabilities," Kubilius said, adding that those responsible for competition issues in the EU should fully assess the impact of any agreement on the European market.
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