Allied Intelligence — 2026-04-22

France and Poland launch joint military satellite programme at Gdansk summit; Thales Alenia, Airbus and RADMOR to build GEO platform to reduce Starlink reliance

France and Poland on 20 April announced a joint military-satellite communications programme at their first bilateral summit under the Treaty of Nancy held in Gdansk, with Thales Alenia Space, Airbus Defence and Space, and Polish firm RADMOR tasked with developing a geostationary platform for the Polish armed forces. The Polish Defense Ministry characterized the system as "cyber-secured across ground and space segments," resistant to space and terrestrial threats, and designed to strengthen national space sovereignty. The initiative slots into the European Commission's Readiness defence plan and is explicitly framed as reducing reliance on Starlink and other commercial U.S. systems. France and Poland also discussed expanded nuclear-deterrence cooperation at the summit.

Analysis
Warsaw's choice is a deliberate sovereignty bet against the Starlink dependency that has shaped NATO signals-intelligence conversations since 2022, corroborated across Defence Matters, Via Satellite, and The Defense Post with underlying ministry release text. Framed under the Commission's Readiness 2030 plan, the initiative carries regulatory and capital backing that very likely pushes five or more additional member states into secure-milcom consortia by year-end. U.S. SIGINT sharing arrangements built on the assumption of Starlink-dominant European comms will need to recalibrate as allied military traffic migrates off commercial U.S. infrastructure.

3 sources

France and Poland launch joint military satellite project as Gdansk summit sharpens defence agenda - Defence Matters
Poland Invests in New Defense GEO Satellite Built by Thales, Airbus, and Radmor - Via Satellite
France, Poland Discuss Boosted Defense Ties as US Wavers on Europe - The Defense Post