France, Poland launch military satellite project to reduce dependence on Starlink

France and Poland moved to build a geostationary military communications satellite for the Polish armed forces, a project aimed at giving Warsaw secure, resilient links while reducing Europe’s reliance on outside providers such as Starlink. The announcement in Gdańsk came as Emmanuel Macron met Donald Tusk, underscoring how closely the satellite deal is tied to a wider push for European strategic autonomy.

Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space and RADMOR said they had signed an industrial cooperation agreement to develop the system for the Polish Ministry of Defence. The companies said the satellite would provide secure communications for Poland’s armed forces and would be cyber-secured across both ground and space segments. Airbus said the system was designed for high robustness and resilience, while Thales Alenia Space, a joint venture owned 67 percent by Thales and 33 percent by Leonardo, framed the effort as part of a broader European industrial base rather than a one-off bilateral gesture.

The choice of a geostationary satellite is significant. Orbiting more than 30,000 kilometers above Earth, such a system offers persistent, wide-area coverage, making it well suited to military communications that must remain available across a broad region. That is a different strength from low-Earth-orbit constellations, which trade persistence for speed and density. For Poland, which sits on NATO’s eastern flank and borders Russia’s sphere of military pressure, that kind of enduring coverage has direct operational value.

The project also fits the European Commission’s Readiness Roadmap 2030, which sets a goal of defence readiness by 2030 and names four flagship efforts: Eastern Flank Watch, the European Drone Defence Initiative, the European Air Shield and the European Space Shield. The satellite initiative follows the France-Poland treaty signed in Nancy on May 9, 2025, which included a mutual assistance pledge in case of armed aggression and covered defence industry, economy, agriculture and science. Macron and Tusk are now tying those commitments to concrete capability.

Poland’s own defense posture helps explain why it is such a pivotal partner. NATO’s 2025 figures show Poland spent 4.3 percent of GDP on defense, the highest share in the alliance, and all 32 allies met NATO’s 2 percent guideline that year. In that context, the satellite project is more than an industrial contract. It is a test of whether Europe can build sensitive security infrastructure that remains reliable even when transatlantic politics, commercial space power or external communications networks become unpredictable.