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The Implications of Dual-Use for Protecting Space Assets

For many years Europe organized space around clear distinctions. Civil programs were separated from defense. Commercial companies served institutional customers. Governments developed sovereign capabilities while industry provided technology and services. The concept of dual-use existed, but it remained politically uncomfortable. The separation itself was often seen as a strength.

Today, that separation is becoming increasingly artificial. Not because governments deliberately decided to abandon it, but because reality has moved faster than policy. The war in Ukraine did not fundamentally change the space sector. It exposed a transformation that had already begun. Commercial satellite communications, Earth Observation, cloud computing and artificial…[continued]