EU Deploys New Government Satcom Program in Sovereignty Push
2 32The EU "has switched on parts of its homegrown secure satellite communications network for the first time," reports Bloomberg, calling it part of a €10.6 billion push to "wean itself off US support amid growing tensions."
SpaceNews notes the new government program GOVSATCOM pools capacity from eight already on-oribit satellites from France, Spain, Italy, Greece and Luxembourg — both national and commercial. And they cite this prediction by EU Defense and Space Commissioner Andrius Kubilius.
The program could expand by 2027. "All member states can now have access to sovereign satellite communications — military and government, secure and resilient, built in Europe, operated in Europe, and under European control," [Kubilius said during his opening remarks at the European Space Conference]... Beginning in 2029, GOVSATCOM is expected to integrate with the 290 satellites in the Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite constellation, known as IRIS2, and be fully operational... "The goal is connectivity and security for all of Europe — guaranteed access for all member states and full European control."
2 comments
Re:Full control* (Score: 5, Informative)
by buss_error ( 142273 ) on Sunday February 01, 2026 @11:55PM (#65963600)
Except for the encryption keys which were all issued by the US.
"Continuously rotating keys".
You don't have to use the keys given. You can make your own. Like your own SSL, TLS, or SSH keys, just longer, and with a different algorithm. Discontinuous functions with constant key rotation is hackable, true. Not sure how long that would take now, in 2000 it was calculated to take over a million years. And remember that part "continuously rotating"? You get one message with that key, now start over. With Enigma, they got complacent by only changing keys every 24 hours. Now change the keys for each message. Even "Back when" - it took on average 48 hours to find one day's key. As much intelligence was from signals analysis and frequency of messages than actually reading the content. Today, your system should be sending random null messages nearly continuously.
Combined with the rest of the world abandoning the USA's SWIFT banking system and SABRE air reservations outside of dealing with the USA (Still running on Oracle 5? Not sure, haven't kept up with it since 2000). That's the issue with a "trusted partner" that thinks it is cool to shit all over their "allies". At some point, they stop being friends. Or allies. Or tame.
American Exceptionalism isn't, and hasn't been since the end of WWII. We've been going on momentum, and people went along with it because the US did not do anything very objectionable to them. Now we are. We should be building longer tables, not higher walls. Because as King Gustavus Adolphus knew, it's cheaper to talk than to go to war, and you can quietly reach for a bigger hammer while talking.
and exploitable by Israel. **cough** **NSO** **Pegasus**
Which are already dealt with by using different algorithms but go ahead and say it ain't so. Won't change the facts that the current administration's incompetence and the leadership of a senile old geezer with dementia has alerted the rest of the world that the United States is in decline, and come grab a few mouthfuls off the quivering flesh of a sessile, impotent mountain of blubber. Not that the left is that much better, but at least it understands the importance of alliances. Even if some of them are unwise to the point of screaming frustration.
Here are the hard facts: It is time and past to dispense with both major parties and start working on real solutions using real thought and real intelligence. We've rested on our collective laurels for 80 years now. Like the failed man recalling his glory days as the high school linebacker, everyone's heard the stories but what have you done for us lately, and how are you going to do it with that pot belly and dementia?
Re: Sovereignty, but for who? (Score: 5, Informative)
by simlox ( 6576120 ) on Monday February 02, 2026 @02:51AM (#65963712)
Most governments in Europe are "unelected" by your apparent difunition. The Secretary of X and Supreme Court judges in the US are all "unelected" as well. In principle PROTUS is "unelected" by that difinition. But they are all appointed by someone elected. The EU commision by the national governments ( which are apointed by national parlaiments), and the EU parlaiment. The democratic problem with EU is, that far most Europeans only care about their national government when they vote. When there is a unpopular dicision the national politicians blame on the EU. The press doesn't report well from Brussels, and noone can figure out who decides what in Brussels.