Militaries worldwide are racing to create their own satellite internet networks, worried about relying on Elon Musk's Starlink for battlefield communications. Starlink's 10,000 satellites provide reliable internet connections to almost anywhere on Earth, giving modern forces a critical advantage in data-intensive warfare where intelligence, video feeds, and drone control instructions flow constantly.

Unlike radios that adversaries can easily jam, Starlink's signals point straight up from ground stations to space and are relatively robust. Receivers are cheap enough to issue to small military units and even use on remotely operated drones. But global tensions are rising as states seek sovereignty in everything from computer chip manufacture to nuclear deterrence, making reliance on a foreign service like Starlink increasingly risky.

Both Ukraine and Russia have used Starlink since the 2022 invasion, but in February, the company restricted access to registered users and effectively shut Russian troops out of the service. The move is reported to have had serious repercussions for Russia's ability to coordinate its military and provided Ukraine an advantage, at least in the short term. No other nation wants to find itself in the same boat.

European nations are developing alternatives like Infrastructure for Resilience, Interconnectivity and Security by Satellite (IRIS²) with 300 satellites, while China builds the Guowang network with 13,000 planned satellites. Russia's Sfera constellation has encountered delays, and even Germany is in talks to create its own network. The UK retains a stake in satellite internet provider Eutelsat OneWeb, having saved its precursor from bankruptcy because the technology was so important.