European Commissioner for Space Affairs: Ukraine Can Join the IRIS Satellite Communication System

Ukraine, Norway, and the United Kingdom may join the European satellite communication network IRIS², which is being developed by the European Union as an alternative to Starlink.

Euractiv reported on this, citing European Commissioner for Defense and Space, Andrius Kubilius.

Currently, only Norway is in negotiations with the European Commission regarding joining the IRIS² program. Ukraine and the United Kingdom have not yet started official negotiations.

There is growing concern in Europe about the monopolistic position of Starlink in the satellite communication market.

“I wouldn’t be against it,” said Kubilius in response to a question about whether non-EU countries could join the multi-billion-dollar space program.

He emphasized that the United Kingdom has strong expertise in the space sector, while Ukraine has significant scientific and technical potential, as it was one of the key space centers during the Soviet era.

Iceland, which, like Norway, is part of the European Economic Area, also expressed its readiness to participate in the program. It completed negotiations with the European Commission in early July.

Kubilius’ statement came a few weeks after the presentation of the EU Space Law draft, which was submitted by the European Commission on June 25. The document triggered active internal discussions regarding its future implementation.

Although the final approval of the law will take several years, its provisions could potentially limit access for companies like Elon Musk’s SpaceX to the European telecom market.

At the same time, according to Kubilius, no negative reactions to the draft law have been recorded so far.

Recently, on July 24, it was reported that there was a global outage in the Starlink satellite communication service provided by the American company SpaceX. The loss of connection was notably observed on the frontline in Ukraine.

European Alternatives to Starlink

The European Union is in negotiations with four satellite internet operators to replace Starlink as part of the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

Potential suppliers include Luxembourg’s SES, Spain’s Hisdesat, Britain’s Viasat, and the French-British consortium Eutelsat/OneWeb.

As noted by European Commission spokesperson Thomas Renier, Ukraine is interested in transitioning to alternative communication systems, particularly Govsatcom — the integrated network of national governmental satellite capabilities within the EU.

The possibility of using the IRIS² satellite group is also being considered; however, its deployment is not expected until the 2030s.

Therefore, while this system is a promising alternative, it is not suitable for rapid deployment in the event of a sudden Starlink outage.

Instead, Govsatcom is expected to achieve initial operational readiness later this year, but only as a temporary solution until the full launch of IRIS².