Questions & Answers

EU GOVSATCOM (European Union Governmental Satellite Communications) refers to space-based communication services for the European Union and its Member States, facilitating security-critical missions and operations, and the management of critical infrastructures. Access to GOVSATCOM is indispensable in areas with no ground infrastructure (e.g., maritime, air, remote areas, the Arctic region), or where existing ground infrastructure is unreliable, disrupted or destroyed (e.g., due to natural disasters, crises, conflicts). GOVSATCOM is a highly assured SatCom offering a certain robustness and security level with some resilience. EU GOVSATCOM services will guarantee the transmission of security critical information with adequate protection against interference, interception, intrusion, and cyber-security risks.

GOVSATCOM will constitute a part of the EU Space Programme (2021-2027), which will exploit the possibilities offered by space in the domain of satellite communications, to enable and facilitate the implementation of Member States or EU policies related to the security of its citizens. The programme aims at providing secure and cost-efficient communications capabilities to security- and safety-critical missions and operations managed by the European Union and its Member States, including national security actors, EU institutions and agencies. The core of EU GOVSATCOM consists of the aggregation of demand, common EU level security requirements and accreditation, and pooling and sharing of national and commercial resources.

Access to GOVSATCOM services is required in the following fields of application, which group specific use cases:

1. Crisis management, ncluding civilian and military missions and operations, Common Security and Defence Policy (CSDP) missions and operations, natural and man-made disasters, humanitarian crises, and maritime emergencies;
2. Surveillance, such as border and maritime surveillance, combatting illegal trafficking, search and rescue (SAR), environmental monitoring, CSDP missions & operations at sea;
3. Key infrastructure management, which includes diplomatic networks, police communications and institutional communications, transport infrastructures, energy grid infrastructures, space infrastructures and services (including EU space infrastructures such as Galileo and EGNOS);
4. Specific use cases, such as connectivity for the Arctic region, Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems (RPAS), Machine to Machine (M2M) and Internet of Things (IoT) communications.

EU GOVSATCOM focuses on the needs of governmental users, including civil and military entities or institutions, requiring access to secure satellite communication services to execute their missions or to improve current operational capabilities. For instance, foreseen users include border authorities, maritime authorities, law enforcement bodies, civil protection (including rescue and emergency services, public protection and disaster relief), humanitarian aid, military forces, EU external actions, authorised key infrastructures operators.

The ENTRUSTED project, with the full title: “European Networking for satellite Telecommunication Roadmap for the governmental Users requiring Secure, inTeroperable, innovativE and standardiseD services”, is an Horizon 2020 Coordination and Support Action that pursues research in the field of secure satellite communications (SatCom). The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program.

ENTRUSTED aims to contribute to the successful implementation of the EU GOVSATCOM initiative, which will provide guaranteed, reliable and cost-effective access to secure satellite communications capacities and services for governmental users.

ENTRUSTED will help to understand current and evolving user needs, which will be translated into a set of consolidated and prioritised user requirements for future GOVSATCOM services. ENTRUSTED will also define a roadmap for research and innovation on the future GOVSATCOM user technology. Project findings will inform regulations on the EU GOVSATCOM operational requirements, service portfolios, the sharing and prioritisation of GOVSATCOM services, and security requirements.

The Network of governmental Users (NoU) associates representatives of relevant EU GOVSATCOM users by Member States and EU agencies (including ENTRUSTED Consortium members and external collaborators). NoU members work together in the identification of GOVSATCOM user needs and operational requirements, within the scope of the ENTRUSTED project. They also act as the primary interface towards user communities and actual users. The NoU will also define current and evolving use cases for secure SatCom, identify training needs among users, and organise field tests to demonstrate secure SatCom capabilities. Finally, the NoU will engage in a debate on required user technology developments and effective investments across the EU in the area of governmental satellite communications.

The Research and Innovation Roadmap and Coordination Plan (R&I roadmap) for secure SatCom user technology will indicate actions and investments necessary to close the gaps between SatCom capabilities and user requirements. Its purpose is to ensure that future GOVSATCOM services comply with user expectations.

You can complete the subscription to ENTRUSTED newsletters here. You will be informed about latest project news and activities every six months.

The survey study undertaken in the ENTRUSTED project will assess the current usage of secure SatCom services by respondents, and their potential interest in future GOVSATCOM services. The survey will focus on the following aspects:

• users’ interests and needs regarding secure SatCom services in different fields of application, and regarding associated use cases, and
• secure SatCom capabilities in use (in terms of user technology and services), planned and expected future technological trends.

Answers will be collected, analysed and processed to generate a set of consolidated user requirements. In addition, survey results will be compared with identified key and enabling secure SatCom technologies for the purpose of elaborating a long-term research and innovation roadmap and coordination plan (R&I roadmap).   

Respondents contributing to the survey will receive an aggregated and anonymised report presenting results at the end of the ENTRUSTED project. 

This survey study targets all potential EU GOVSATCOM users entrusted with tasks relating to the supervision, management, and/or execution of security-critical missions, operations and infrastructures. The survey will serve collecting information from potential GOVSATCOM users: 

• with little to no experience in the use of secure SatCom services, who would be interested in accessing them, and
• experienced in the use of secure SatCom services, who are interested in guaranteed and more affordable access. 

ENTRUSTED supports the development of the new component of the EU Space Programme, namely, the EU GOVSATCOM programme, by providing the user perspective. A dedicated survey research will be conducted by the ENTRUSTED Consortium with the aim to engage as many potential EU GOVSATCOM users as feasible. Survey will be used as a key tool for collecting user needs and related uses cases in the widespread consultations with users. Results of the survey study will inform the definition of a consolidated and prioritised set of user requirements regarding future EU GOVSATCOM services. User requirements will be used as an indispensable input towards:

• the definition of the legislative framework (Implementing Acts), and
• the development of a GOVSATCOM system infrastructure that meets the user requirements.

Please use a contact form in the Survey section and you will be contacted with a relevant Point of Contact (PoC).

Survey respondents will be approached by a national or institutional ENTRUSTED Point of Contact (PoC) with a request to complete a survey questionnaire. Respondents are asked to return the survey form via e-mail or by post to the assigned Point of Contact.

The questionnaire can also be downloaded from the ENTRUSTED website (in English only). Please use a contact form in the Survey section, and you will be contacted with a relevant PoC.

The survey template is UNCLASSIFIED, however depending on the sensitivity of the answers, we may process the completed surveys as classified up to CONFIDENTIEL UE / EU CONFIDENTIAL, or the national equivalent level. Should this be the case, the assigned Point of Contact (PoC) will prepare adequate arrangements.

If the questionnaire has been downloaded from the ENTRUSTED website, please use a contact form in the Survey section to get in touch with us. And you will be contacted with a relevant PoC. 

The survey study will be launched in April 2021, and answers will be collected over the next 3 months until the end of June 2021.