… or Just Rehearsing for Tehran?

This week, as the Middle East threatens to light up like a Cold War fever dream, the European Union quietly rolled out its most ambitious space agenda in decades. But make no mistake, it was about escalation.

Beneath the polished language and ESA anniversary pleasantries, the real story is a full-throttle pivot toward militarization. We’re talking pre-emptive orbital dominance, war-ready communication systems, and a rush to build autonomous GPS replacements, all timed eerily well with reports of rising instability across NATO’s southern flank.

They aren’t hiding it anymore. The EU wants surveillance-grade Earth Observation every 30 minutes. Military-grade satcom better than Starlink. Navigation that can survive jamming, spoofing, and possibly even the next digital Pearl Harbor. This is about preparing for a world where the U.S. might not show up to defend Europe’s borders… or oil interests.

And here’s where it gets very grounded: this entire cosmic shopping list is the scaffolding for a much bigger ask, jacking up military spending to 5% of GDP. That’s right. The same bloc that struggles to agree on cheese tariffs is now subtly conditioning taxpayers to fund a defence surge on a scale not seen since the Cold War.

With missiles flying over the Red Sea and the Eastern Mediterranean on edge, Brussels sees a window. A crisis. And as the old saying goes: never waste a good one.

The European Space Agency – ESA is just the tech arm of this strategic pivot. The Commission is doing the psychological groundwork. It’s less about Galileo and more about selling voters on the idea that “space is safety,” and therefore, worth whatever it costs. When you can convince people that orbiting satellites are what’s standing between them and the next Iranian drone swarm, the jump from 2% to 5% GDP becomes a matter of “security,” not politics.

And they’re going to keep saying “unity” until it sticks. Whether it’s IRIS² (€10.5B and counting), ERS (spy satellites with PR gloss), or GOVSATCOM (precursor to orbital command infrastructure), the message is clear: spend big, spin fast, and smile while doing it.

If Europe’s path to peace is paved in rockets and taxes, are we really securing the continent or just turning the sky into another battlefield we can’t afford to lose?

Your call, taxpayer.