Direct-to-Device (D2D) Satellite Connectivity: Defence-to-Consumer Analysis
It is historically well established that strategic imperatives accelerate the development of technologies which later become the backbone of civilian industries. The demands of military programmes, with their requirement for reliability, scale and resilience under extreme conditions, have repeatedly acted as catalysts for innovation. Systems such as the Internet, GPS, microprocessors and advanced telecommunications were first conceived and tested within defence or space projects, only to be transformed, in subsequent decades, into infrastructures and products of everyday life. As Mariana Mazzucato has argued, these trajectories illustrate the decisive role of publicly funded research in shaping technological waves that private firms later adapt and diffuse across mass markets.
We are now witnessing the emergence of a new set of technologies that appear to follow a similar path. Direct-to-device satellite communications, edge-based artificial intelligence, advanced sensing and biometrics, as well as augmented and extended reality systems, are moving from their military origins toward adjacent civil uses. The critical issue is not whether these transitions will occur, but rather which technologies and which enterprises are positioned to capture the commercial potential of this shift. The following analyses consider the principal families of defence-derived technologies, tracing their origins, current maturity and possible evolution into large-scale consumer applications capable of shaping new industries and redefining market expectations.