From left: Air Marshal John Stringer, Royal Air Force; Maj. Gen. Philippe Adam, French Space Command; and Maj. Gen. Wolfgang Ohl, German Federal Ministry of Defence. Photo: Space Foundation

COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo.— NATO leaders are working toward the concept of getting all nations in the alliance to work together to protect the space domain and advance defense and deterrence objectives in space.

Tom Goffus, the assistant secretary for General Operations of NATO, said during a panel at Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on Tuesday that a lesson NATO learned from Russia’s attack on Ukraine is that space — including commercial space — is a key battlefield. 

“We know the very first attack by Russia was a cyber attack on Ukraine’s ability to use space,” Goffus said, citing the attack on the KA-SAT network. “So a key NATO lesson is the need for space capabilities for all 32 allies.”

Some NATO member countries have already invested in space, he noted, because over the last five years, the acceleration and proliferation of commercial space and technology “broke the belief that space is too expensive, too exquisite and too classified.” 

Six NATO allies have already stood up space commands. “As we raise the space IQ of allies, they are recognizing that in space, Chinese military assets are a closer and more dangerous threat to their national security, prosperity and well-being than in any other domain,” Goffus said.

‘America First’ does not need to mean America alone, he said, and the combined economic and military might of 32 allies will make NATO a major space player. “It’s real, it’s important, and it’s happening.”

It’s about credibility, said Air Marshal John Stringer of the Royal Air Force, who serves as deputy commander of NATO’s Allied Air Command. “Credibility means you have capabilities [that] are demonstrable whether it’s necessary to use them or not,” he said. “That is no different in the space domain. We need to be thinking about what response options therefore look like, not that you are going to do them, but that your adversary knows that they are a possibility.”

It’s critical to bring together forces and capabilities now, according to Maj. Gen. Wolfgang Ohl, deputy director and general for Military Strategy and Operations, German Federal Ministry of Defence. “We are under attack,” he said. “We see that every day. We are under attack in space, out of space, and innerspace. So we have to do something. And here comes NATO into the game. We have to synchronize what we are striving for in space.”

Stringer added a bit of real-world reality to the discussion. “I would just highlight NATO quite rightly as a defensive alliance that will never have a first-mover advantage,” he said. “So that rapidity of response via the orchestration of a variety of effects with other nations, faster than your opponent, and the ability to generate, sustain and ideally increase momentum, is essential.” 

Space operations in the future will be quite different, since it has a lot to do with how we imagine the war of tomorrow, according to Maj. Gen. Philippe Adam, space commander, Air and Space Force, French Space Command. “But the way that space is now playing a critical factor in what we want to do in terms of initial operations is primarily important, and has to be realized within the Space Command,” he said. “We are not fighting space for space. We are fighting in space for the world. But also we have to be concerned that we provide the best support we can from space.” 

Goffus said one of the takeaways from a recent NATO exercise is that rules of engagement are needed for space, like all other domains. “It’s not a settled question at this point. But I think allies are where they need to be, in terms of thinking about it,” he said. 

“NATO is in a constant process of revising our space domain plans, and it includes supporting where the five different NATO recognized operational domains intersect. The reason is that space can support land, or land can support space, and that it’s a multi-dimensional, dynamic and fluid environment,” Goffus said. “So we’re going to have to get after this intellectually to be able to handle the dynamics to bring something together on multi domain operations that’s very operational. I think it’s very clear that space is going to be at the heart of multi-domain operations.”

Stringer commented on the importance of the commercial sector, with NATO drawing from the “greatest possible range of vendors. It’s innovation, but it’s also choice, options, competition, and vibrancy in the market. On one side, we want to encourage that vibrancy. But on the other side for us as NATO, making sure that our processes are as nimble as they need to be. Nobody wants to wait 18 months to be paid.”

“Traditionally you needed really big budgets to buy big things in NATO,” Stringer said. “But I do think space offers an opportunity for nations with smaller budgets to really contribute, and to focus capability to the benefit of all members of the alliance, with that sense of being an important ally contributing to the deterrence and defense mission, which I think resonates strongly across all nations.”