[iSnow]

>But does a military really need that many to get the necessary capability?

No. The German army wants a constellation of initially 40, and later just over 100 satellites. They do not want or need to replicate the massive Starlink numbers.

[kolinko]

The numbers just don't add up there. With just 40-100 satellites they need to be GEO, and this means crappy transfers, big lags (200-300 absolute minimum, more 500ms), and most importantly - big, power hungry antennas.

It's a PR project to calm people down, not a real solution.