Via Satellite
• Tereza Pultarova
As Russia begins deploying its RASSVET low Earth orbit constellation, defense experts warn that Europe remains too dependent on the United States for space security. The deployment highlights a strategic gap as Europe confronts growing pressure to strengthen its own space capabilities.
Space Defense & Militarization
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A commentary on the first UK Space Power event, held in mid-September, describes a marked elevation in discussions of space defense. The observation points to space security becoming a more prominent part of Europe’s defense agenda.
As Russia begins deploying its RASSVET low Earth orbit constellation, defense experts warn that Europe remains too dependent on the United States for space security. The deployment highlights a strategic gap as Europe confronts growing pressure to strengthen its own space capabilities.
Key stakeholders in Germany’s space industry are weighing in on the country’s efforts to strengthen space capabilities in support of protecting its eastern flank. The discussion puts Germany’s space-defense ambitions and the industry’s role in those efforts in focus.
High activity
Rheinmetall ICEYE has begun production of dedicated SPOCK 1 synthetic-aperture radar satellites for Germany, while Lithuania has received its first Switchblade 600 loitering munitions. Separately, the Pentagon plans an urban counter-drone exercise, DroneShield won a U.S. contract worth up to $500 million, and Russia reported intercepting nearly 900 Ukrainian drones.
Airbus Defence and Space and CenSec, a Danish business cluster representing companies and researchers in defense, space and security, have signed a partnership agreement. The groups said the deal is intended to expand cooperation and strengthen ties between Airbus and Denmark’s aerospace and defense supply base.
European leaders are tying space capabilities to independent decision-making in security and defense, while debate over the proposed European Space Shield highlights disagreements over its name and control. In parallel, a new US policy emphasizes infrastructure and commercial activity, as space-governance advocates argue for moving beyond debris mitigation toward orbital sustainability.
HawkEye 360 says it demonstrated that its commercial radio-frequency monitoring satellites can be retasked to detect and identify transmissions from other spacecraft. The experiment could give the U.S. Space Force another means of assessing satellite activity in orbit, extending the use of commercial sensing systems to space-domain awareness.
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