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Head of French satellite maker says governments need

reliability

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Thales CEO says most European nations prefer assets they

control

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Starlink aims to be resilient due to size of its

constellation

By Tim Hepher and Joey Roulette

PARIS, March 4 (Reuters) - 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.

"Government actors need reliability, visibility and

stability," Caine told reporters.

"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."

SpaceX, Musk's space launch company that also owns Starlink,

did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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.

SpaceX says it sees growing global demand for Starlink, as

it expands a 1 million square-foot (92,903 sq m), heavily

automated Starlink terminal manufacturing site in Texas that

produces 15,000 terminals a day.

SpaceX has captured key markets for Starlink after using its

reusable Falcon 9 rockets to deploy satellites far quicker than

rivals, such as Europe's OneWeb.

In the early days of the Ukraine war, Starlink's security

was stress-tested by a barrage of unsuccessful Russian hacking

attempts that crippled rival Viasat ( VSAT ).

In 2023, Musk said he had refused a Ukrainian request to

activate the Starlink satellite network in Crimea's port city of

Sevastopol the previous year to aid an attack on Russia's fleet

there, saying he feared complicity in a "major" act of war.

Last month, Musk denied a Reuters report that U.S.

negotiators pressing Kyiv for access to critical minerals had

raised the possibility of cutting access to Starlink.

Caine said most European governments had backed systems

based on commissioning assets more directly under their control,

such as the future Iris2 constellation for secure networks.

"When you operate government communications you don't

necessarily want to be dependent on an external person, whoever

that is. That is why...the vast majority of government

infrastructure in Europe is owned or has been purchased," he

said.

"Other countries make other choices. They have private

players invest and operate the services. It is very rare in

Europe. (Positioning system) Galileo started like that and it

didn't work."

Thales earlier reported continued losses in its own

satellite business as it posted higher overall 2024 profits.

Caine said Starlink did not compete directly with Thales or

its main European rival Airbus, Europe's two major

satellite producers, but had indirectly shaken up their markets

by disrupting commercial telecom satellite operators.