By BlueShift | 2025-04-29

The US Space Force (USSF) has announced plans to unveil a new strategic framework that aims to deepen international cooperation.

Chief of Space Operations Gen. B. Chance Saltzman announced the upcoming release of the "International Partnership Strategy" during his address at the annual Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado, on April 9.

The strategy sets the foundation for stronger partnerships, improved interoperability and shared access to critical space data.

This comes at a time of a shifting threat landscape, with Russia and China testing advanced anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons and conducting training exercises that include aggressive dogfighting maneuvers in space.

For the USSF and its international partners, that issue raises urgent questions about the security of satellites that are essential to communications, surveillance and early warning systems.

Saltzman framed the effort as a collective necessity, stating, "Space power is the ultimate team sport." No single country can manage the size, complexity or speed of developments in space, he said.

"The domain is too big, too complex, too dynamic for a single nation to secure alone," he said. "Space superiority requires an extraordinary degree of trust, coordination and shared commitment among like-minded nations."

Building on existing cooperation

The strategy builds upon existing initiatives.

One milestone was the appointment of UK Air Marshal Paul Godfrey as assistant chief of space operations for future concepts and partnerships -- the first non-US officer to hold a senior leadership position within the USSF.

"His presence has created a daily reminder in the headquarters that we have to stay linked... have to consider what our allies and partners might think," Saltzman said.

This strategy will serve as a framework to translate policy goals into practical action, he added. It will create the opportunity to leverage the unique strengths of partner agencies to create cohesive, adroit space fighting forces.

"This is basic economics -- every one of our nations and organizations has something to contribute," Saltzman said. "The trick is in focusing on areas where we have a comparative advantage. Maybe it's space domain awareness or hosted payloads. Maybe it's launch capacity, or even simple geography for a ground station."

Another successful initiative Saltzman underscored was a USSF unit based in Tucson, Arizona, which has led security cooperation programs.

"With just a skeleton crew of Guardians and Airmen, the team has led 19 significant security cooperation initiatives across seven partner nations," he said. "They've helped install telescopes and op centers across the continent, and they spearheaded a new process for integrating partner-operated space capabilities with our domain awareness information pipeline."

"And perhaps most impressive of all, the team has leveraged commercial capability to build out the Enhanced Domain Awareness system" to share data, Saltzman added. "This is an incredible step forward in partner integration in South America."

Initiatives like these show the broad potential for integration with partner agencies and forces, and the critical role the USSF will play as concerns about the militarization of space mount.