Europe is preparing to replace Starlink in the event of its shutdown in Ukraine, first with a temporary Govsatcom solution, and eventually with IRIS².
The EU has accelerated the pace and will be ready to replace Elon Musk’s Starlink this year in the event of its shutdown. To do this, they are creating a temporary, proprietary Govsatcom satellite communication system, which will reach initial operational readiness this year. This is reported by Politico.
However, there is a problem here: the Govsatcom program does not provide for the launch of satellites to create this system. Instead, Govsatcom is based on existing European military and commercial satellites.
The problem is that probably these satellites were not intended to build such systems on their basis at all. Therefore, their speed and power can be significantly less than that of Starlink satellites, which are designed specifically for this. But even with low speed and power, it can be a great temporary solution to replace Starlink.
A more complete replacement for Starlink will be the IRIS² satellite communication system, for which it is planned to create a new network of much more powerful satellites. But even here it is not without problems: it is expected that this system will be put into operation in the 2030s, which, given the possible shutdown of Starlink now, is too long. Instead, it is likely that this network will allow for more flexible use of satellite communications by the defense forces during their operations.
It is worth noting that in addition to Govsatcom and IRIS², there are several other analogues of Starlink in the world, which, if necessary, will be ready to replace it. For example, Eutelsat, Hispasat, SES or OneWeb. In addition, recently a specialist in the field of communications and electronic warfare Serhiy “Flash” answered the question “whether the Armed Forces of Ukraine are ready to turn off Starlink, and how likely it is that Elon Musk will do it.”