Space systems underpin the communications, navigation, early warning, and data services that modern societies, and modern militaries, depend on. For NATO, space is directly linked to collective defence, crisis response, operational effectiveness, and societal resilience.
Recent real-world examples illustrate the changing environment in space: GPS interference affecting aviation, electronic warfare effects visible in satellite imagery, and increasingly assertive satellite behaviour in orbit. The operational implication is straightforward: disruption and coercion can begin long before traditional military activity is visible, online and in orbit, before the first aircraft launches or missile fires.
Why space matters to NATO
NATO’s Space Domain Vision links space readiness to achieving a Multi-Domain Operations-enabled Alliance by 2030 and being prepared to deter and defend in space. At the 2025 U.S. Space Symposium, Admiral Pierre Vandier, NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander Transformation, described NATO as “adapting its approach to space” and argued for a transition “from passive observer and consumer to proactive sentinel”, in other words, “from a passive observer to an active guardian” with the ability to “deny first mover advantage” to an adversary.
Space has become inseparable from the global economy and from modern military operations, so safeguarding access and freedom of action in space is now a core resilience issue for the Alliance.
A key shift is treating space as both a supporting domain and a supported domain, while strengthening resilience across the full architecture that makes space services work, from satellites in orbit to ground infrastructure and data networks. This requires shared awareness, dependable operational support, and the ability to coordinate Alliance action quickly when conditions change.
Our daily lives heavily rely on Space, and there is no going back.
– Colonel Nicolas Delbart
NATO Allied Command Transformation
Space Branch Head
NATO’s response: key initiatives underway
Executing on this Space Domain Vision, NATO has moved from recognizing the challenge to delivering practical capability. Multiple initiatives are underway across the Alliance to strengthen space readiness and resilience, including:
- NATO Space Operations Centre (NSpOC): Established in 2024 at Allied Air Command in Ramstein, Germany, NSpOC serves as NATO’s focal point for coordinating space support to operations, connecting commanders to needed space data and services and helping Allies share information in the space domain.
- Alliance Persistent Surveillance from Space (APSS): NATO’s largest multinational investment in space-based capabilities, APSS builds a virtual constellation of national and commercial surveillance satellites (“Aquila”) to provide clearer, shared picture of activity on the ground.
- Strategic Space Situational Awareness System (3SAS): A NATO-developed system to improve the Alliance’s understanding of the space environment and space events, and the effects those events can have across all domains.
- NORTHLINK: A project to develop secure, resilient Arctic satellite communications by leveraging commercial and government-owned capabilities to improve reliable connectivity in the High North.
- STARLIFT: A project to create a more resilient and responsive network of launch options so Allies can launch space assets at short notice from spaceports across the Alliance.
- NATO SATCOM Services (6th Gen): A NATO investment (2020-2034) in satellite communications services to deliver more secure, resilient, and flexible connectivity for ships, aircraft, and deployed forces worldwide.
- NATO Space Marketplace: an ACT-led pilot procurement platform intended to streamline access to commercial space data, analytics, and services, helping NATO move at commercial speed while keeping requirements and security expectations clear.
These efforts are not separate projects, they form a practical, integrated push to strengthen how NATO understands what is happening, keeps space-enabled services working, and coordinates Alliance action when conditions change.
What comes next
Readiness in space is directly linked to NATO’s Defence Planning Process. Ongoing work to review and refine capability targets, and to encourage Allies to contribute as space capability providers, helps ensure space readiness remains a sustained line of effort across the Alliance.
Across all these initiatives, the direction is practical and cumulative: the Alliance must build shared awareness, strengthen operational support, and improve coordination so NATO can deter, defend, and operate effectively as the space domain continues to evolve.