The Infrastructure Above Us

How Satellites, Networks and Sovereignty Are Becoming One European Question

For decades, Europe built its digital world from the ground up. Fibre followed roads. Mobile masts followed population density. Connectivity was something engineers could point at — tangible, terrestrial and geographically bounded. When networks failed, the causes were usually visible: a storm, a cut cable, a damaged site. That mental model is no longer sufficient.

As societies digitise essential functions — emergency response, energy systems, transport, healthcare and government communications — connectivity is no longer about performance alone. It is about continuity. About remaining available precisely when conditions deteriorate.

And increasingly, that continuity cannot be guaranteed by ground-based infrastructure alone. Modern networks no longer end at the mast. They extend upward.

From Ground to Orbit

What is changing is not simply technology, but the definition of infrastructure itself. Telecom operators are moving away from selling coverage and toward delivering guarantees — guarantees that connectivity will persist even when terrestrial systems are disrupted.

This shift explains the growing importance of Non-Terrestrial Networks within 5G-Advanced and the early architectural thinking around 6G. Satellites are no longer positioned as exotic add-ons. They are becoming part of the network fabric — invoked automatically when ground systems degrade.Connectivity is becoming three-dimensional.

This evolution blurs boundaries that once seemed clear: between telecom and aerospace, between digital policy and space policy, between infrastructure and sovereignty. In this emerging landscape, Airbus occupies a position that is often misunderstood.

Airbus Beyond Aviation

To the public, Airbus remains primarily an aircraft manufacturer. Yet within Europe’s industrial architecture, its role has expanded far beyond aviation. Alongside commercial aircraft and helicopters, Airbus Defence and Space has grown into one of the continent’s most strategically significant infrastructure actors.

Within that division sit satellite systems, secure communications, Earth observation platforms and classified government programmes — all increasingly intertwined with Europe’s digital resilience.

At a time when dependence on external platforms is no longer theoretical but operational, this role carries political weight.

“We cannot talk about sovereignty if we continue to buy critical systems off the shelf from outside Europe. Industrial autonomy requires speed, scale and structural change.”
Mike Schoellhorn, CEO Airbus Defence and Space

His words reflect a broader shift taking place across European industry. The conversation has moved away from efficiency alone and toward endurance — the ability to sustain essential systems under pressure.

Space, in this context, is no longer a scientific frontier. It has become functional infrastructure.

Satellites as Digital Nervous System

Satellites support navigation, climate monitoring, defence coordination and emergency communications. Increasingly, they also support terrestrial telecom networks — providing backhaul, redundancy and geographic reach that ground systems cannot match.

What once belonged to aerospace engineering is now embedded in the digital economy’s nervous system.

“Infrastructure in space determines autonomy on Earth. Without collective European action, Europe risks strategic irrelevance in both defence and connectivity.”
Roberto Cingolani, CEO Leonardo

This convergence explains why discussions about AI, cloud sovereignty and network autonomy now inevitably extend beyond Earth’s surface. Control over data flows cannot be separated from control over the pathways those flows travel. Nowhere is this more visible than in Low Earth Orbit.

Industrialising Europe’s Presence in Space

With OneWeb, Europe is no longer merely observing the rise of large-scale satellite constellations. It is actively industrialising its presence within them. Airbus plays a central role in manufacturing and scaling the satellite platforms, while Eutelsat OneWeb operates the constellation as a hybrid commercial and institutional network.

The ambition is not to mirror American models, but to offer an alternative aligned with European governance, regulatory oversight and security expectations.

“In today’s world, connectivity is power. Recent geopolitical events have shown what happens when a single private actor can decide whether networks remain online.”
Jean-François Fallacher, CEO Eutelsat OneWeb

The implication is difficult but unavoidable: connectivity infrastructure is no longer politically neutral. Decisions about ownership, control and access shape power relations far beyond the telecom sector itself.

IRIS²: Policy Meets Technology

Europe’s response to this reality is beginning to take structural form. The IRIS² programme — a multi-orbit satellite system designed for secure institutional and commercial communications — represents a policy decision more than a technological one. It acknowledges that resilience cannot be outsourced indefinitely.

Led by a consortium including Airbus, Thales Alenia Space and Eutelsat OneWeb, IRIS² is intended to ensure that essential European communications remain available under all conditions — civilian and governmental alike.

“Sovereignty cannot be purchased. It must be built — through long-term investment in infrastructure Europe controls itself.”
Thierry Breton, former European Commissioner for Internal Market

In this sense, space policy becomes digital policy by extension. Orbit is no longer above politics; it is embedded within it. Behind these programmes sits a new generation of professionals whose work rarely reaches public attention.

Their focus is not exploration, but operations: launch diversification, constellation resilience, service continuity and system integration. The language is no longer astronomical. It is operational — measured in uptime, redundancy and risk management. Space has become part of day-to-day infrastructure stewardship.

Lessons from the 1970s

Europe has faced a similar moment before. In the 1970s, Airbus itself emerged from a recognition that dependence on external manufacturers would eventually constrain economic and political autonomy. What followed was not a quest for dominance, but for balance — an ability to participate in global systems without surrendering control.

Today, that question returns in a new form. Digital infrastructure no longer stops at national borders — or at the edge of the atmosphere. It flows through fibre, spectrum, airspace and orbit alike.

Once again, Europe faces a familiar decision:
to build critical infrastructure collectively or to depend on systems governed elsewhere. This time, however, the runway does not lie between cities. It begins above our heads.