Thales warns governments over reliance on Starlink

5/3/2025 13:04

The head of one of Europe's largest satellite manufacturers, France-based Thales, has highlighted the risks to governments of relying too heavily on private satellite constellations in an apparent warning over Elon Musk's Starlink.



Speaking at a results briefing on Tuesday, Thales CEO Patrice Caine questioned the business model of Starlink, which he said involved frequent renewal of satellites and question marks over profitability.



Without further naming Starlink, he went on to describe risks of relying on outside services for government links.



Caine told reporters, "Government actors need reliability, visibility and stability."



"A player that - as we have seen from time to time - mixes up economic rationale and political motivation is not the kind that would reassure certain clients."

Starlink, with millions of customers globally and more than 7,000 satellites, has been sold as a secure means of accessing the internet, resilient to space-based attacks by the sheer number of replaceable satellites that make up the constellation.