European Space Force Leading General Collaborating Towards Shared Ground with Allies and NATO
NATO is making significant strides in shaping its space infrastructure, with a focus on minimising duplication and leveraging each country's unique capabilities. The alliance's efforts are aimed at enhancing collective defence through integrated space situational awareness and operations.
The cornerstone of NATO's space infrastructure is the Space Operations Centre, established in 2020 in Ramstein, Germany. This centre serves as the initial step towards building operational capacity in space. Alongside it, the Combined Force Space Component Command and the NATO Space Operations Center are being established by 2024 at Allied Air Command. These institutions enable coordinated space operations across NATO members.
NATO's first space program, the "virtual constellation", is also underway. This program pools intelligence and surveillance data from national and commercial satellites to enhance situational awareness. The alliance has also released its first-ever Commercial Space Strategy in 2025, acknowledging the private sector’s central role in space innovation and aiming to accelerate the alliance’s space capabilities by leveraging commercial technology and data.
The operations centre plans are still under discussion, with possibilities ranging from separate centres, combined centres, or centres that include allies. The ultimate goal is to build a resilient architecture of space assets that the U.S. and its allies can leverage.
Brig. Gen. Jacob Middleton, the top U.S. Space Force general in Europe, is waiting for NATO to finalise its approach to space. Middleton emphasises the importance of every country in the alliance, noting that each brings beneficial contributions to the table. He is currently working to educate, train, and exercise with partners and allies, including U.S. Space Command.
The U.S. remains the dominant space player within the NATO alliance, but allies can also contribute to the space infrastructure. The U.S. Space Force and Space Command are planning to establish a joint operations center. The goal of the space infrastructure is to be "allied by design," with countries contributing based on their own needs and resources.
In summary, NATO's space infrastructure includes the Space Operations Centre, the Combined Force Space Component Command, the NATO Space Operations Center, the virtual constellation program, and the Commercial Space Strategy. The alliance's efforts reflect its evolving approach to space as a contested operational domain, aiming to enhance collective defence through integrated space situational awareness and operations. Future plans include expanding space capabilities, potential procurement and operation of NATO-owned space assets, and further capability development coordinated with allies and commercial partners.
- The Space Operations Centre, established in 2020 in Ramstein, Germany, is the initial step towards building operational capacity in space for NATO, serving as a cornerstone in its space infrastructure.
- Besides the Space Operations Centre, the Combined Force Space Component Command and the NATO Space Operations Center are being established by 2024 at Allied Air Command, enabling coordinated space operations among NATO members.
- The virtual constellation program, an ongoing first space program by NATO, pools intelligence and surveillance data from national and commercial satellites to boost situational awareness.
- NATO has acknowledged the private sector’s central role in space innovation and released its first Commercial Space Strategy in 2025, aiming to accelerate its space capabilities using commercial technology and data.
- The ultimate goal in discussions concerning the operations centre plans is to build a resilient architecture of space assets that the U.S. and its allies can efficiently leverage, with possibilities ranging from separate centres to centres that include allies.
- In its evolving approach to space as a contested operational domain, NATO aims to enhance collective defence through integrated space situational awareness and operations, and future plans include expanding space capabilities, potential procurement and operation of NATO-owned space assets, and development of capabilities coordinated with allies and commercial partners.
