Summary

• Ukrainian company Stetman and Denmark’s GomSpace are developing sovereign satellite communications capability through UASAT.
• The initiative is intended to support dual use communications for civilian resilience, national security, and critical infrastructure.
• The project extends Europe’s digital sovereignty debate beyond cloud and data into communications systems.

GomSpace and Ukrainian communications company Stetman are developing sovereign satellite communications capability for Ukraine, turning wartime connectivity experience into a European infrastructure project with defence, public service, and critical infrastructure dimensions.

The Danish satellite company and Stetman have agreed to establish UASAT in Ukraine, with the joint venture intended to develop dual use satellite communications capacity. The partners have said the first satellite is due to provide operational feedback for later steps in the roadmap, while latest sector reporting points to a much larger ambition around a sovereign low Earth orbit constellation.

The project sits inside the practical lessons of the war in Ukraine. Communications networks have been exposed to physical attack, electronic warfare, jamming, disruption, and political dependency, while satellite services have supported military coordination, emergency response, public administration, media access, and civilian connectivity. That experience has made satellite communications less a specialist space topic and more a question of how a state keeps operating when terrestrial networks are contested.

A sovereign constellation would not remove every dependency. Ukraine and its partners would still need launch access, manufacturing capacity, ground infrastructure, spectrum coordination, financing, security controls, and long term operational support. Yet the direction of the programme shows how digital sovereignty is extending beyond cloud contracts and data residency into communications systems that can withstand disruption and remain under trusted control.

Stetman brings direct Ukrainian operational experience. The company works on resilient communications for defence, the public sector, and critical infrastructure, including satellite terminals and field telecommunications systems. GomSpace brings small satellite systems, mission experience, and European industrial capacity, with operations in Denmark and other markets.

The European context is broader than Ukraine alone. Governments across the region are reassessing the resilience of telecoms networks, undersea cables, energy infrastructure, cloud platforms, and space assets. Communications systems are increasingly viewed through the same lens as power grids and transport corridors: commercially useful in normal conditions, strategically exposed during crisis.

That shift creates opportunities and constraints for suppliers. Space infrastructure companies, ground segment providers, cyber specialists, antenna manufacturers, and defence technology firms may find growing demand for resilient communications. At the same time, projects built around sovereignty face demanding tests around procurement transparency, interoperability with allied systems, export controls, and long term funding.

Financing will decide how much of the ambition becomes real infrastructure. A satellite constellation is expensive to build and operate, and Ukraine is balancing wartime spending with reconstruction needs. Allied capital, development finance, and industrial partnerships may therefore be as important as the first satellite launch.

Ukraine’s satellite plan shows how the boundary between public infrastructure and digital technology has changed. Communications resilience is no longer a back office assumption or a narrow defence procurement line. It is a condition for government continuity, military coordination, public services, logistics, financial systems, and civic life under stress. UASAT places that requirement into orbit, where commercial capability and sovereign control are becoming harder to separate.