Starlink outage pushes Europe toward satellite independence

Disruptions to Starlink services for Ukraine have highlighted Europe's dependence on US space technology, intensifying calls for technological independence, according to Bloomberg. The incident has become a key argument for developing European satellite alternatives. The outage affected Ukrainian drones and exposed the lack of a ready European replacement for Starlink on the front line. Europe also relies on US space surveillance systems for missile launch detection, prompting the EU to accelerate work on its own secure satellite network, IRIS². Full deployment of IRIS² is not expected until 2029, while the alternative OneWeb network currently has limited capacity and incompatible terminals. European officials acknowledge continued reliance on US systems in the near term, even as they build independent capabilities.