Space has become a war zone demanding military dominance across every orbit, the chief executive of SES said on Monday, as the satellite operator's shares jumped four per cent after annual results, reflecting a broader rally in Europe's defence-tied stocks amid an escalating conflict in the Middle East.
Defence investors' focus on space-based missile defence systems, like US President Donald Trump's Golden Dome initiative, is likely to rise as the conflict widens, analysts from Citi said in a note.
The key for such fast-evolving military systems is real-time intelligence sharing across defence units, SES CEO Adel Al-Saleh said during a post-earnings call.
He named France's nuclear aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, which last year led a multi-vessel Pacific Ocean mission relying on SES's satellite networks, as an example of this. "Space is now a war-fighting domain," Al-Saleh told investors, saying militaries now place similar importance on space capabilities as air superiority, naval power or cybersecurity.
SES's trump card: offering sovereign network "slices" where governments have full control, he said, adding this service matched Europe's growing appetite for autonomy.
"There is an acceleration across all nations around the world, especially the United States and the European Union, to build up these capabilities at scale," Al-Saleh said.
He said Europe was treating space as essential to NATO spending targets, part of which comes from being able to build independent defence capabilities.
"The outlook is positive and is accelerated with conflicts," Al-Saleh said, though he added that even without conflicts, the buildup of sovereign capability was a priority for many countries.
SES is planning aggressive vertical integration to, "take control over some of the supply chains that are critical for innovation," banking on dual-use as it builds satellites that blend military and commercial capabilities, he said.
(Reporting by Leo Marchandon in Gdansk, editing by Milla Nissi-Prussak.)