Under the 1967 United Nations Outer Space Treaty, states recognize that the exploration and use of outer space should be carried out for peaceful purposes, for the benefit and in the interests of all countries, and as the province of all mankind. Yet decades of reluctance to establish an enforceable framework for responsible behavior in space have left the domain governed by outdated rules and significant legal ambiguity. While diplomats continue to negotiate, military space programs continue to advance, widening the gap between treaty principles and operational reality. The result is a dangerous strategic environment in which technological capabilities are advancing far more rapidly than the international legal framework designed to regulate them.

Russia and China have proposed a treaty that would prohibit the testing of weapons in space. The United States has rejected the proposal, citing vague language and the absence of credible verification and enforcement mechanisms. Those concerns are legitimate, but they also expose an unfortunate situation. The United States has been testing anti-satellite capabilities since the 1980s and continues to develop them. Russia and China, have likewise expanded their own anti-satellite programs while simultaneously advocating for the peaceful use of outer space. This contradiction illustrates one of the defining challenges of modern space diplomacy. The nations capable of establishing a space weapons program are also the ones preventing a meaningful international agreement to restrain one. Every major space power argues that its own activities are defensive while portraying those of its competitors as destabilizing, making genuine progress increasingly difficult.

Even if governments genuinely sought a comprehensive agreement, practical obstacles remain. Many technologies with military applications in space also serve legitimate commercial purposes, making it difficult to distinguish between civilian and military systems. Systems capable of disrupting satellite communications, for example, often rely on the same underlying technologies used in commercial telecommunications. Rendezvous and proximity operations can be used to inspect or repair satellites, but the same capabilities could also be employed to interfere with or disable another nation’s spacecraft. Without an internationally accepted definition of what constitutes a space weapon, any treaty regulating weapons in space will struggle to establish meaningful legal obligations. This dual-use nature of space technology complicates verification efforts and makes traditional arms control models far more difficult to apply than they were during the Cold War.

A nuclear weapon detonation in orbital space presents consequences unlike those of conventional military actions because of its indiscriminate, long-lasting, and unpredictable nature. A large detonation could disable or destroy many satellites in a single event while enhancing radiation belts for years or even decades. The resulting debris and radiation could make certain orbital regions unusable, limiting access not only for military satellites but also for civilian and commercial spacecraft. Since modern societies depend on satellites for communications, navigation, weather forecasting, financial transactions, emergency response, precision agriculture,

and countless other essential services,  the effect is far beyond military operations, affecting virtually every nation and every individual. In early 2022, Russia launched a satellite into an unusual orbit, prompting analysts to speculate that the activity was connected to its reported nuclear anti-satellite weapons program. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, prohibits placing nuclear weapons in orbit or otherwise stationing them in outer space. However, the treaty was written during the early years of the Space Age, and it is a growing vulnerability made more dangerous by the inability of the international community to modernize the rules governing space before a crisis forces the issue. This is just one example of the limits of the treaty.

International space law was largely written in 1967, when only two countries operated satellites and outer space was viewed primarily as a scientific frontier. It was never designed for today’s environment, where governments, commercial companies, and private organizations operate thousands of satellites that underpin the global economy. The legal framework has failed to keep pace with these technological and geopolitical realities, leaving the international community increasingly reliant on norms and voluntary commitments that lack meaningful enforcement.

A comprehensive treaty prohibiting all space weapons is unlikely soon. That does not mean meaningful progress is impossible. Countries could formalize a ban on destructive anti-satellite missile testing, building upon voluntary commitments that several nations have already adopted. Transforming those political pledges into binding international obligations would represent a realistic first step. Likewise, civilian satellite systems could receive legal protections like those afforded under international humanitarian law to hospitals, electrical grids, and other civilian infrastructure during armed conflict. States could also expand voluntary exchanges of space situational awareness data, improving transparency regarding objects in orbit while creating the trust and technical foundation necessary for future arms control negotiations. Incremental agreements may lack the ambition of a comprehensive treaty, but history demonstrates that confidence-building measures often lay the groundwork for broader and more durable arms control frameworks.

The United Nations Open-ended Working Group on the Prevention of an Arms Race in Outer Space held the third session in July 2026. The meeting made progress by deepening negotiations and narrowing discussion around threats, legal frameworks, and potential future rules for military activities in space, but it did not conclude with a binding agreement. If negotiations continue to stall, however, the costs of inaction will not be borne solely by the governments responsible for the impasse. They will be borne by every society that depends on space-based infrastructure, which means virtually the entire world.

Outer space is a shared domain that, in principle, belongs to all humanity. Allowing it to become a militarized arena governed by outdated laws and diplomatic paralysis is not inevitable. It is a policy choice. By failing to act, the international community is making that choice by default.

The author is Research Officer at Balochistan Think Tank Network at BUITEMS Quetta. He can be reached at muneebnasar@yahoo.com. The views of the author are his own.

Space: The Ungoverned Orbit was originally published on Global Security Review.

Secretary Meink’s wake-up call deserves restating,

One area of particular focus for the US Space Force is “space control,” the ability to ensure that US satellites can operate without interference while denying adversaries the same freedom. Unfortunately, 10 to 15 years ago, some of our adversaries started to weaponize space, and weaponized space aggressively. We stood on the sideline, probably too long. We didn’t want to go down that path, but now we are pushing hard. We didn’t start the race to weaponize space, but we have to make sure we can continue to operate in that domain. Going forward, we can’t lose that high ground.

This long overdue improvement in strategic communication marks a turning point toward rebuilding a credible American space deterrent. China seized the high ground through a rapid build-up of space deterrence and warfighting forces, while Australia, Japan, and South Korea observed warily this tipping of the strategic balance. The US and Europe pretended it was not a problem at all.

This was part of a broader trend for the West to bury its head in the sand for most of the past 35 years, from nuclear deterrence to space warfare. As adversaries weaponized space, the US Space Force (USSF) acknowledges at long last it must focus on fielding credible and effective deterrence and warfighting forces in space.

The USSF published an International Partnership Strategy, where “strength through partnerships” aligns allies with US space efforts. There are challenges, however, for an effective USSF international strategy. These include divisive geopolitics in space and foundational issues surrounding space defense strategy beyond support services. In addition to geopolitical and strategic quandaries, organizational politics stand in the way of a sound strategy. If the US has more robust space capabilities, partnering with the US is more attractive for allies. The ability to go it alone with the prospect of winning is what gains allies.

It turns out allies make similar moves. The US and UK Space Commands conducted their first-ever coordinated satellite maneuver in early September 2025. Among Quad members, Japan’s new space domain defense guidelines spearhead rapid battlespace awareness and real-time detection and tracking of threats. This further reinforces the importance of disrupting adversary command, control, communications, computers, and information (C4I) and other expanding threats. India will develop “bodyguard satellites” after an orbital near-miss. France’s National Strategic Review 2025 makes space central to sovereignty and defense, to acquire rapidly deployable ground and space capabilities to deny, disable, or disrupt adversaries. Last, but certainly not least, Germany is ramping up its military space posture.

When Boris Pistorius, Federal Minister of Defense of Germany, announced a $41 billion investment to counter the “fundamental threat” posed by Russia and China, he mentioned their targeting and tracking of Western satellites. While flying over Germany on reconnaissance missions, two Russian Luch-Olymp spy satellites tracked two Intelsat satellites used by the German Bundeswehr.

Pistorius suggested the Bundeswehr could centralize Germany’s military space functions to quickly respond in conflict. That requires investment in hardened systems less prone to Russian and Chinese jamming, spoofing, and manipulation. Installing “guardian satellites” to provide defensive and offensive capabilities to boost deterrence is required.

Insufficient yet required functionalities need fixing. This includes resilience of satellite constellations and ground stations, secured launch functions, improved space domain awareness capabilities, and space surveillance satellites.

This does not happen in a capability vacuum and leaves some questions unanswered on how to square that with the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Despite Ariane 6 and rocket ventures, Europe does not have the required launching capability and still depends on SpaceX. IRIS², the European security-oriented constellation, will not be operational until the 2030s. Until then, dependency on Starlink remains.

Industry partners, such as Eutelsat, SES Satellites, Airbus Defense and Space, Thales, and OHB SE, will get the contracts for the German and European military space systems, but are they financially fit-for-purpose and able to deliver quickly? It depends. Airbus and Thales have heavy defense order backlogs. Eutelsat must recover from its acquisition of OneWeb, and SES just acquired Intelsat.

The question of military space capacity building for non-US NATO allies further resonates outside NATO. Japan does everything to strengthen its military space industrial base, while India puts in a serious effort from space situational awareness to launchers to warfighting satellites. Allies will get there eventually, but it may not be fast enough vis-à-vis Russia and China.

One thing is clear, the center of gravity in deterrence is shifting to space-enabled, long-range, rapidly replaceable kill webs. With NATO officially calling space a warfighting domain, it is no longer a support area. Non-US NATO leaders need to build military space capacity. They should not wait another decade to adopt an Allied Space Operations Doctrine 1.0.

Indo-Pacific allies should endeavor for a similar effort, all while leveraging NATO’s military space experience. That might include some degree of coordination between NATO and Indo-Pacific allies, especially for areas of concern to all, such as the Arctic. Without delegated authorities, codified protect-and-defend protocols, attribution thresholds, tactically responsive launch (less than 96 hours), and common allied space rules of engagement, the good guys’ response times will miss the fight as adversaries dominate orbit.

Christophe Bosquillon is a Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies. He has over 30 years of international experience in general management, foreign direct investment, and private equity and fund management across various industries in Europe and the Pacific Basin. The views expressed are the author’s own.

A Realist Shift in Western Military Space Posture was originally published on Global Security Review.

In planning to strengthen space defense capabilities, the French military procurement agency, Directorate General of the Armament (DGA) focuses on surveillance, security, and cooperation. France aims to have a full space defense capability by 2030, built on military space capabilities such as Earth observation, communications, positioning, and navigation. The country is also expanding its space situational awareness capability to monitor, classify, and better understand space activities and threats.

France unveiled Toutatis, a new space surveillance program to protect low-Earth orbit assets, focusing on satellite detection, characterization, and targeting. Toutatis works with two satellites. A “spotter” cubesat detects targets and a smaller target satellite—developed by French start-up U-space in partnership with defense industry major MBDA.

France also works on geosynchronous orbit surveillance through the Yoda program of small satellites with cameras to monitor space threats. The annual military space exercise, AsterX, highlights the need for enhanced situational awareness in low-Earth orbit. Within two years, the Toutatis program will test capabilities with planned launches of maneuverable satellites.

Rather than kinetic weapons against weaponized space assets, France deploys non-destructive measures like dazzling adversaries with lasers to neutralize threats—without creating debris. The country also seeks to balance autonomy with international cooperation. For example, an envoy from Ukraine recently discussed space defense in Paris. Pawan Kumar, Director of the Indian Defense Space Agency, recently provided the French space command with an update on military space cooperation between the two countries.

The French view is that enhanced situational awareness in space, through programs like Toutatis, is a cornerstone of its space defense strategies. Nations should prioritize investments in monitoring technology to observe potential threats and signal their deterrence capabilities.

France’s focus on space start-ups indicates a shift towards commercial and civilian involvement in space security. A timely joint-announcement made by two rising space ventures, Cailabs and Unseenlabs, revealed they successfully tested space laser transmission for satellite downlink in a world first. While Cailabs supplied the optical ground station, Unseenlabs deployed a low-Earth orbit nano-satellite with a laser payload. The pair established a stable link for several minutes. France’s Ministry of Armed Forces called the successful test a world first. It was a first for the commercial sector, but a few other experiments remain confined to American government attempts.

The French Defense Innovation Agency funded the test with €5.5 million ($6.1 million). The Cailabs/Unseenlabs system will be integrated on France’s future military satellites. Laser technology is hard to intercept or hack, compared with radio antennas.

Such a capability would be useful for expanding battlefield data transmissions. France’s optical communications satellite project, dubbed Keraunos (thunderbolt in Greek), helps mitigate the effects of atmospheric turbulence, making space-Earth liaisons handy on mobile, land-based, naval, and airborne platforms.

The European Space Agency Director, General Josef Aschbacher, rightly noted that a gap in space spending between Europe and the United States (a ratio of 1 to 6) is complicated further by spending in Europe that is spread among a wider range of national space agencies. Streamlining European defense and space governance is thornier than in the US since it involves structural reforms on technological gaps, fragmented capital markets, and strategic spending.

A rather disappointing report on European competitiveness by Mario Draghi, former Italian Prime Minister and president of the European Central Bank, generated immediate push-back from Ludwig Moeller, director of the European Space Policy Institute (ESPI). ESPI methodically reviewed the Draghi Report’s shortcomings when it came to European Defense and Space. ESPI suggested the report lacked an impulse for the needed market reforms.

As stated by Eva Portier, space deputy in France’s military procurement agency, Directorate General of the Armament (DGA), “Access to space is an essential element of our national sovereignty, our capacity to use space to launch our satellites and conduct operations.” While greater Europe is struggling to fundamentally unite in its efforts to counter future malicious space efforts by China and Russia, France is stepping forward in a more limited way. It is not lost on observers that French satellite names harken to a past where France needed protection. For example, Toutatis, discussed above, was a divinity once worshipped in ancient Gaul and Britain, and was considered a protector of Gallic and Celtic tribes. The annual military space exercise, AsterX, led by the French Air and Space Force and involving 15 partners countries, is a wink to Asterix and Obelix, leading characters of a comic book series describing the adventures of a small village resisting the Roman invaders. Legend has it the Gauls feared only “that the sky would fall on their head.”

French efforts are moving in the right direction, but unless Europe reforms and consolidates space defense efforts across the continent, Europe will be unprepared when a crisis occurs. Major space reforms take time. Thus, it is important those reforms begin now. France simply cannot accomplish what is needed on its own.

Christophe Bosquillon is a Senior Fellow at the National Institute for Deterrence Studies. He has over 30 years of international experience in general management, foreign direct investment, and private equity and fund management across various industries in Europe and the Pacific Basin. Views expressed in this article are the author’s own.

France Doubles Down on Space Defense Tech was originally published on Global Security Review.