According to Dmytro Khmara, vice president of the satellite technology division at Himera, under the optimistic scenario, deploying the Ukrainian satellite communications network could take at least 2-3 years.
"Previous practice shows that similar projects around the world are implemented over 5-7 years. It should also be taken into account that technologies are changing very quickly at the moment. A very dynamic market, very many players. Every few months new hardware appears that delivers better results," he indicated, although he outlined an optimistic scenario under which this would happen sooner.
At the same time, he denied that the solution proposed by his company in cooperation with partners is a "replacement for Starlink."
"No, we are not going to make a replacement for Starlink. We are building strategic communications using satellites to connect command centers for the Ministry of Defense, critical infrastructure points," Khmara emphasized.
He added that the goal of the project is to build a national secure communications system.
"The main thing about this communications system is that it will be fully controlled by Ukrainians. No one abroad will have any button to limit or shut it down," Dmytro Khmara explained.
As dev.ua wrote, on October 1, Ukrainian communications developer HIMERA, together with the Danish company GomSpace, launched and began operating the OBRIA NANO spacecraft. This is the first test satellite within the OBRIA initiative, aimed at creating a sovereign national satellite communications network.
It later became known that creating the Ukrainian OBRIA satellite communications network will require at least 100 satellites.
In a comment to dev.ua, HIMERA CEO Misha Rudominskyi revealed key technical details, the mission's funding issues, and the deployment strategy for the future satellite network.