recent LinkedIn post<\/a>, Thales Alenia Space reaffirmed its full commitment to IRIS2, stating \u201cThales Alenia Space has been onboard the IRIS2 project from the very beginning. \u2026 IRIS2 will be the ultimate in the field of telecommunications constellations, our company will leverage its unique legacy and propose state-of-the-art technologies to address this program, which is strategic for Europe to strengthen its sovereignty\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\nA source near the COMINT authorities, who requested anonymity as they were not authorized to speak officially for the Interministerial Committee , clarified that \u201cThe passage that highlights the greater operational maturity of SpaceX compared to IRIS\u00b2 represents a factual observation and does not amount \u2014\u00a0nor could it amount \u2014 to a political preference or a procurement decision.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
The source reiterated Italy\u2019s effort to pursue both an EU and a United States strategy, aiming to preserve political independence at the European level, while securing long-term strategic positioning with the U.S. \u201cThe government\u2019s line is clear: pro-European and transatlantic. We strongly support EU programs such as GOVSATCOM and IRIS\u00b2 for secure connectivity, to which Italy makes a qualified contribution in industrial, operational, and security terms.\u201d<\/p>\n
The source\u00a0also emphasized a point first raised in January, when Italy\u2019s potential engagement with SpaceX became public: \u201cAny possible interim solution, pending the full operational capacity of the European IRIS\u00b2 constellation [\u2026], will be evaluated on a case-by-case basis.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
In other words, Italy doesn\u2019t view Starlink as an alternative to IRIS\u00b2 but rather as a temporary integrative solution until Europe\u2019s system becomes operative. Meanwhile, studies on MERCURIO continue, with a decision on whether to pursue a national constellation or rely on Starlink expected later this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The leaked report closes with a broader reflection on the strategic balance between Europe and the U.S.: \u201cIt is evident that the EU will inevitably rely on\u00a0a very close relationship with the U.S. in strategic sectors such as satellite telecommunications.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
This stance underscores a tension at the heart of Italian space policy: reconciling the pursuit of sovereignty, resilience, and innovation with the realities of dependence on U.S. technology and partnerships.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, some analysts caution against drawing conclusions too quickly. Ludwig M\u00f6ller, director of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI), said that \u201cToday, de facto, there is nothing comparable to Starlink. If a country faces an urgent situation, if there is a real case where you depend on that capability, then the country turns to what is available. That is completely normal.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n
However, he added that \u201cStarlink is the shining star today, but we will see more in the near future. This is still the early stage; it is like the internet 25 years ago. We can still be part of it, we can still build, as Europeans, our own capabilities.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tRelated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MILAN\u00a0\u2013 A report from Italy\u2019s space policy office questioned whether the country is underrepresented in the IRIS\u00b2 program,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":189563,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[1076,6801,79,722,193],"class_list":["post-189562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-europe","tag-italy","tag-science","tag-sn","tag-space"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=189562"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/189562\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/189563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=189562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=189562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=189562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}