NASA/CIL/Chris Meaney via Wikimedia Commons
Deterrence, Defense, and Resilience in Space
Andrea Rotter
Hanns-Seidel-Stiftung
Andrea Rotter heads the Foreign and Security Policy Division at the Academy for Politics and Current Affairs of the Hanns Seidel Foundation (HSF) in Munich, Germany. Her research focuses on transatlantic security cooperation as well as German and European security and defense policy. Her current research projects address the evolution of Germany’s strategic culture, the transformation of NATO in the wake of Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and the link between geopolitical rivalry and space security policy. She is a non-resident fellow at AGI.
Prior to joining HSF, she was a researcher in the Americas Research Division at the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP) in Berlin and taught at the Chair of International Politics and Transatlantic Relations at the University of Regensburg. In 2018, she was a visiting fellow at the German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) and the American-German Institute (AGI) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC. From 2018-2022, she was a member of the Young Leaders Program of the Federal Academy for Security Policy (BAKS), Berlin, and is an alumna of the International Visiting Leadership Program (U.S. Department of State) and the Manfred Wörner Seminar (GMF & German Federal Ministry of Defense). She is also a member of the extended board of WIIS (Women in International Security) Germany and heads the regional chapter in Munich.
Rotter holds a master’s degree in European-American Studies from the University of Regensburg and a bachelor’s degree in International Cultural and Business Studies from the University of Passau and Stirling, UK.
Germany’s First Space Safety and Security Strategy
As announced in the 2025 coalition agreement, Germany’s Federal Ministry of Defense and the Federal Foreign Office have unveiled the country’s first-ever Space Safety and Security Strategy. The strategy identifies key security challenges and defines strategic fields of action aimed at strengthening Germany’s security and defense readiness in orbit.
Germany wants to ensure and secure its “long-term ability to act in space—in both the civilian and military sectors—in times of peace, crisis and a state of defense”—this is the ambitious objective stated by Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) and Foreign Minister Johann Wadephul (CDU) in the foreword of Germany’s first Space Safety and Security Strategy.
A Long Overdue Milestone in Space
The strategy document, explicitly listed as a goal in the 2025 coalition agreement between Chancellor Merz’s center-right CDU/CSU and the Social Democrats (SPD), marks an important milestone for Germany’s role in international space security. A Space Command of the Bundeswehr had already been established under the auspices of the German Air Force in 2021, and in 2023, the National Security Strategy of then-Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s “traffic light” coalition emphasized the “strategic dimension” of outer space. In September 2025, Defense Minister Pistorius announced investments of €35 billion ($41 billion) by 2030 to expand Germany’s capabilities and overall security architecture in space. This represents a substantial expansion of Germany’s defense spending on space, compared with only about €500 million in 2023. By contrast, France—already possessing more advanced military space capabilities—plans to invest roughly €10 billion between 2026 and 2030. Germany’s investment will focus on hardening systems against attacks, improving situational awareness through radars, telescopes and future “guardian satellites,” creating redundancy through interconnected satellite constellations, ensuring secure on-demand access to space via small launchers and future European heavy-lift vehicles, and establish a dedicated military satellite operations center within the Bundeswehr’s Space Command. The investment is expected to elevate Germany to the forefront of Europe’s military space actors—at least financially. It also marks a significant shift by the Merz government toward strengthening national and European industrial autonomy and reducing reliance on external providers, as most of the funding will go to German and—to a lesser extent European—space ventures.
With the publication of the Space Safety and Security Strategy, Berlin lays the strategic foundation for its future conduct in space, following the example of key partners like the United States, France and the UK. Considering that “attacks to, from, or within space” could potentially trigger NATO’s Article 5 mutual defense clause and that Russia is reportedly developing a nuclear-capable anti-satellite weapon while Moscow has already threatened to target international commercial satellites supporting Ukraine, the strategy is both a necessary and long overdue step.
Growing Relevance of the Space Domain
Germany’s growing engagement in space is driven by the far-reaching changes in the use of space and the multiple security challenges emerging in orbit. On the one hand, digitally networked societies and modern armed forces depend on space-based capabilities such as secure satellite communications, precise navigation, Earth observation, and reconnaissance. On the other, increasing numbers of state and private actors, such as Elon Musk’s Starlink, are entering space, raising not only the number of objects in orbit but also the potential for collisions and conflict.
Additionally, the strategic competition between the United States, China, Russia, and other powers that is currently taking place on Earth extends to space: Around the world, states are promoting their domestic space industrial ecosystem and NewSpace ventures as well as civilian space research programs, competing for orbital slots and frequencies, and modernizing their military space programs. Existing international space law, largely based on the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, can hardly slow down the orbital arms race.
In this context, the Space Safety and Security Strategy defines space appropriately as an “arena for strategic competition and global projection of power.” It realistically outlines the threat environment by examining the behavior of key actors such as Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran, and by addressing the full range of counterspace technologies—capabilities aimed at denying adversaries access to or use of their space-based systems and of which some have already been tested or used.
The strategy also looks at long-term developments that are already becoming strategically relevant: resource extraction on the Moon and other celestial bodies, as well as activities in cislunar space (broadly the area between the Earth and Moon), where major space powers are already positioning themselves.
Critical Dependencies and Vulnerabilities
Given Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine and the current recalibration of transatlantic relations, the strategy states that Germany and Europe must assume more responsibility in space, both to contribute to a fairer burden-sharing within NATO and to reduce critical dependencies. The recent debate about a potential Starlink service shutdown for Ukraine under the Trump administration made it clear to Europeans that strong dependencies could turn into vulnerabilities for European security as well.
Space Security as a Whole-of-Government Task
Beyond the military requirements of the Bundeswehr in outer space, the strategy emphasizes the importance of civilian, scientific, and commercial actors. Germany has excellent industrial and scientific foundations to position itself successfully in the competition for space-related key technologies. This is crucial because space technologies are inherently “dual-use,” i.e., they can be used for both civilian and military purposes. Thus, ensuring space security requires more than a military perspective: The private sector and civilian research play essential roles in innovation and in strengthening and hardening space-based capabilities that are needed for national security.
At the same time, the strategy recognizes that high levels of coordination are required due to the complexity of modern space use and the involvement of diverse actors. The strategy announces the creation of an interministerial committee to address space security issues, situated in the newly established National Security Council. This is a positive step that experts have long demanded, upgrading the previously existing “Interministerial Steering Group on Space,” consisting of representatives from different federal ministries.
Strategic Action Areas
Based on the central role of space in modern military multi-domain operations and on the orbital threat environment, the strategy defines three “strategic action areas”:
- Identify Risks and Threats, Develop Options for Action: A key prerequisite for identifying risks and developing actionable options is a comprehensive space situational picture of other actors’ activities in space and the capability to analyze and assess these activities to make informed decisions, known as Space Domain Awareness (SDA). The strategy lists in notable detail measures already taken or planned to expand Germany’s space situational awareness capabilities (e.g., inspection and surveillance satellites, on-board satellite sensors) and to strengthen its ability to respond to threats or system failures (e.g., responsive space capabilities to quickly replace satellites).
- Promote International Cooperation and Sustainable Order in Space: To guarantee its security and defense readiness in space, Germany relies on international cooperation. The strategy emphasizes collaboration within NATO, the EU, and the European Space Agency (ESA), as well as with selected bilateral partners (including the United States, France, Finland, Sweden, the UK, and Norway) and through exclusive multilateral, U.S.-led initiatives such as the Combined Space Operations Initiative (CSpO) and Operation Olympic Defender (OOD). The United Nations also plays a central role as the key forum for developing norms and principles of responsible behavior in space. The strategy commits Germany to existing international space law, advancing it, and refraining from anti-satellite weapons tests that could generate space debris, following an initiative of the Biden administration.
- Build Deterrence, Strengthen Defense Capabilities and Resilience: The final area of action introduces the most far-reaching new elements, aiming to deter and “be ready to deploy and fight at any time.” Credible deterrence and defense against space threats requires capabilities to actively protect one’s own systems and restrict the adversary’s ability to act. After Defense Minister Pistorius had already spoken of the need for “offensive capabilities” in September 2025, the strategy lists military space and cyber operations, operations in the electromagnetic spectrum, active co-orbital protection, hypersonic technologies in the high atmosphere, and other key technologies. It also states that Germany will respond to hostile actions and violations of international law in line with proportionality—and will exercise its right to self-defense if necessary.
Implementation and Monitoring
Based on the three strategic pillars, the strategy commendably provides concrete lines of action whose implementation and progress can be reviewed and adapted as part of ongoing monitoring. On the one hand, these include broader overarching objectives such as promoting standardization and interoperability of allied space systems and protecting raw material and supply chain security in the space industry. On the other, the strategy also outlines very specific measures, such as establishing a Space Academy or a Space Wargaming Center, which enhance the overall clarity and substance of the document.
Closing Window of Opportunity
Overall, the strategy demonstrates a growing awareness of the strategic relevance of outer space. It realistically reflects the changed security environment and the central role of space-based capabilities for Germany’s national and collective defense, as well as the resulting dependencies and vulnerabilities vis-à-vis external actors. It formulates a vision of how Germany can respond appropriately to emerging threats and position itself effectively in the geostrategic competition in orbit. In doing so, it presents an ambitious picture of the steps and measures required to build a resilient space security architecture. However, the strategy’s effectiveness and value will depend on its implementation. Given the dynamic developments in outer space, the window of opportunity is closing fast.
A German version of this article was first published by the Hanns Seidel Foundation on November 19, 2025: https://www.hss.de/news/abschreckung-verteidigung-und-resilienz-im-weltraum-news13500/ .
