Europe Must Close Strategic Space Gap for Security

3 hours ago7 min read

The stark lesson from Russia’s brutal invasion of Ukraine is that European security is a fragile construct, one that can no longer be outsourced or taken for granted. Yet, in a breathtaking display of strategic myopia, the European Union is sleepwalking into precisely this vulnerability by allowing itself to be lapped in the new space race.This isn't merely about national prestige or scientific curiosity; it's about the very bedrock of modern security and economic resilience. Consider the Galileo system, Europe's proud answer to GPS.While a monumental achievement, its creation was agonizingly slow, and its continued operation exposes a critical dependency. Our navigation, our communications, our financial transactions, and even the precision-guided munitions that could define a future conflict all hinge on assets orbiting silently overhead.To cede this domain is to fight a future war with one hand tied behind our back, blindfolded. The Americans, with their vast military and commercial space fleets, and the Chinese, with their relentless, state-directed expansion, are not just planting flags on the moon; they are weaving the fabric of the next century's power dynamics in low Earth orbit and beyond.They are developing anti-satellite weapons, honing jamming capabilities, and building constellations that can be rapidly reconstituted. Meanwhile, Europe debates funding cycles and bureaucratic hurdles.The void above us is not empty; it is a new battlefield, a new marketplace, and a new frontier for influence. If Europe fails to close this gap—if we continue to treat space as a scientific auxiliary rather than a strategic imperative—we risk not just irrelevance but outright subjugation. Our future security, our economic independence, and our voice on the global stage depend on achieving autonomy in the final frontier, a lesson as clear and cold as the vacuum of space itself.

#editorial picks news

#Europe

#space race

#security

#Russia

#Ukraine

#defense

#satellites

#strategic autonomy

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