The European Union is negotiating to grant Ukraine access to data from the future IRIS2 secure communications satellite constellation. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Sputnik Kazakhstan.
This was announced by European Commissioner for Space and Defence Andrius Kubilius.
The IRIS2 project aims to build a low-orbit satellite constellation to provide EU governments and companies with access to a sovereign and secure communications network.
"A constellation of hundreds of IRIS2 satellites will provide the world's best secure satellite communications. This will allow EU armed forces to establish communications and coordinate their actions within a single system. We want Ukraine to join these efforts. That is why we have started negotiations on Ukraine's accession to GOVSATCOM and IRIS2," Kubilius said in a speech at an international space conference in Paris.
The system is planned to be widely used by national agencies, especially for military and intelligence purposes. Its operation builds on the existing GOVSATCOM programme for transmitting encrypted data between national governments.
Commissioning is planned for 2029.