BLOG 9 | Security, Resilience and the Growing Importance of SATCOM in Europe

With growing geopolitical uncertainty and security becoming a higher priority for governments, industry and public bodies, technology now sits at the centre of protecting both organisational interests and national resilience. Across Europe, leaders are reassessing how critical infrastructure, communications networks and operational systems can withstand disruption — whether from hostile actors, cyber-attacks, physical conflict or climate-related events.

The war in Ukraine has accelerated this shift dramatically. It has exposed the vulnerability of conventional infrastructure and demonstrated how quickly communications networks can become compromised during conflict or crisis. At the same time, Europe’s relationship with strategic adversaries has sharpened the focus on digital sovereignty, infrastructure resilience and secure connectivity.
But these risks are not limited to defence. Civilian infrastructure — including power grids, emergency services, healthcare systems, transport networks and telecommunications — increasingly depends on uninterrupted access to data and communications. As climate change drives more frequent extreme weather events, organisations must also prepare for outages and disruptions caused by floods, storms, wildfires and energy instability.

Technology clearly has a major role to play in this drive for resilience. Yet much of today’s digital ecosystem still relies heavily on terrestrial infrastructure: fibre networks, mobile towers and ground-based communications systems such as 4G and 5G. While these systems are highly capable, they are also vulnerable. Physical damage, cyber interference or power failure can quickly disrupt connectivity at scale.
This is why satellite communications (SATCOM) are becoming increasingly critical to Europe’s future security architecture.

Unlike terrestrial systems, satellite connectivity provides redundancy, geographic flexibility and continuity during times of disruption. SATCOM can maintain communications when conventional infrastructure fails, enabling governments, emergency responders and operators of critical infrastructure to continue functioning in challenging environments.

The importance of this capability has already been demonstrated in real-world scenarios. In Ukraine, satellite connectivity has played a vital role in maintaining communications during wartime disruption, supporting everything from emergency response coordination to frontline operational communications. Commercial satellite systems such as SpaceX’s Starlink have shown how rapidly deployable connectivity can provide resilience when terrestrial networks are damaged or degraded.

At a European level, the response has also become increasingly strategic. The European Union’s IRIS² programme — Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite — reflects the growing recognition that sovereign, secure satellite connectivity is now essential for defence, crisis management and the protection of key infrastructure. The programme is specifically designed to strengthen Europe’s resilience and reduce dependence on external communications systems.
For CTOs, procurement leaders and senior technologists, this creates both a challenge and an opportunity.

The challenge is that resilience can no longer be treated as an optional layer added after systems are deployed. It must be embedded into the architecture of networks, communications and operational technologies from the outset. Organisations must plan not only for efficiency and performance, but for continuity under stress.
The opportunity lies in the emergence of adaptable, scalable and rapidly deployable technologies that can strengthen operational resilience without requiring years-long deployment cycles. The demand for real-time monitoring, remote operations and resilient communications continues to grow across sectors ranging from energy and utilities to defence, logistics and humanitarian operations.

Even the most basic communication capability can become mission-critical during a crisis. In the event of network failure — regardless of the cause — the ability to maintain secure, reliable connectivity can determine how effectively organisations respond and recover.

This is why investment in resilient communications infrastructure and enabling technologies must now accelerate. Governments, public bodies and private organisations all have a role to play in supporting companies that are developing the products and services needed by speeding up the process of approvals and active involvement in funding to meet these emerging requirements.

Too often, our reliance on technology is taken for granted. Yet in an increasingly uncertain and unpredictable world, resilience cannot depend on assumptions. It requires deliberate investment, strategic foresight and the willingness to adopt technologies capable of operating when conventional systems cannot.
Europe’s future security and operational resilience will depend not only on protecting infrastructure on the ground, but also on strengthening the connectivity that supports it from above.