Austria Signals Interest in Participating in Luxembourg's GovSat-2 Project

Background: What is GovSat-2?

In contrast to Luxembourg's GovSat-2 – which, as a stationary satellite in a geostationary orbit at an altitude of around 36,000 kilometers, is intended to cover European airspace – the planned Austrian satellites will fly at a significantly lower altitude of around 500 kilometers. These include three satellites being developed jointly with the Netherlands as part of the LEO2VLEO project.

In addition, five satellites owned by the Austrian Armed Forces are set to be launched into orbit at the beginning of 2027. The total cost of the three Austrian projects was estimated by the Defense Ministry last year at around ten million euros. Tanner emphasized that there was a backlog to be made up in the defense sector and that a secure communications infrastructure made a significant contribution to national resilience and strategic autonomy.

Neutrality and Cooperation with NATO

Asked how cooperation with a NATO country was compatible with Austrian neutrality, Tanner said in Luxembourg: "Neutral zu sein, heißt nicht, gleichgültig zu sein". Even a neutral country like Austria had to be in a position to make its contribution – "natürlich im Rahmen der Neutralität" – she said. Defense capability had to "auch erst ermöglicht und erhalten werden", Tanner said during the press conference.

Her Luxembourg counterpart Yuriko Backes, who hosted Tanner in Luxembourg, pointed to the strong interest in the project: "Der Andrang für das Projekt ist sehr groß, viele Staaten wollen teilnehmen". She stressed the security-policy importance of secure satellite communications for small European states.

As part of her working visit, Tanner also visited satellite operator SES at its Betzdorf site. According to Tanner, the talks were about examining "rechtliche, finanzielle und organisatorische Komponenten des Abkommens". The aim was to "sehr rasch eine rechtlich bindende Grundlage" and to coordinate with the Infrastructure Ministry on this.

Outlook: Next Steps and Open Questions

It remains unclear in what form and to what extent Austria will participate in GovSat-2. According to Tanner, the only thing that is clear is that Vienna wants to keep open the option of cooperation. The final decision on participation is to be made once the ongoing reviews have been completed.

With the visit, Austria is underscoring its desire to expand its capabilities in the field of space communications and to engage in European defense and security projects – always invoking the principle of permanent neutrality.

The next steps now lie in coordination between the Defense Ministry and the Infrastructure Ministry, as well as in negotiations with the Luxembourg government and SES on the concrete shape of a possible participation.