Starlink is part of SpaceX, the space company of entrepreneur and billionaire Elon Musk. The Ukrainian military, like the US military, uses satellites from Starlink. While there is debate over the use of satellites, their use has been essential, according to Bolder. “Without these satellites, Ukraine would not have been able to establish a coherent defense and would have been overrun by the Russians.”
In addition to SpaceX, the American company Maxar Technologies is also active in the war. “It’s a satellite company where you and I can buy super high-resolution photos,” Bolder says. Thanks to Maxar’s images, in March 2022, by the way, the monstrous row of Russian tanks and equipment was discovered. ‘With these images we were able to get a global picture. But the images can also be used for defensive purposes.”
The first images of the mass graves near Mariupol and of the victims in Boocha also came from Maxar’s satellites. “These images are timestamped, which means they can also be used for prosecutions in a war tribunal,” Bolder says.
‘Valid target’
Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation, said that US satellites, even if belonging to civilian agencies, are valid military targets. “That puts you in a new situation,” Bolder says. “Because who will compensate Starlink if their satellites are shot out of space? And what happens to the debris?’
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According to Arnaud van Kleef, research and development engineer at the Dutch Aerospace Center (NLR), military space travel is essential. “For independent intelligence and to be able to warn of a military attack from the air in time,” he says. “Especially with the new threat like hypersonic weapons, you have to be confident that you can detect those threats from space at an early stage.”
Three Dutch satellites
The Netherlands now has three satellites in space for military purposes, including those intended to detect threats on land and at sea, Van Kleef says. ‘Does a radar system belong to a frigate or an air defense system? You want to know that before you plan a military operation.’
Three satellites seems like a small number, but it’s not, says Bolder. ‘In 2013, the Dutch defense started thinking about the role of space travel. Eight years later, the first was in space, now three. Not many countries do that.’ Space was recognized by NATO in 2019 as the fifth domain of warfare, alongside land, air, sea and cyber.
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The Netherlands collaborates extensively with Norway in the field of defence, both in space travel and in air defense. Both countries also use the F35 fighter jet (JSF). Essential, think both Bolder and Van Kleef. Not just gathering the right information, “that’s what it’s all about,” says Bolder. “But the Netherlands is too small to take its own stand in geopolitical conflicts. We really have to look for alliances.’
The fact that Norway cooperates a lot with Sweden and Finland is only good for the Netherlands, Bolder thinks. “That network is just expanding like this.”