By BlueShift | 2025-11-25

Germany's Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius unveiled the country's first national space security strategy on November 19, vowing to expand military and civilian capabilities in orbit.

The new space security strategy highlights the need to identify dangers and threats in space and develop responses, as well as to build deterrence and promote international co-operation, the Financial Times reported.

The new German strategy was unveiled one week after French President Emmanuel Macron on November 12 rolled out a national space strategy and announced an increase in military and civil space spending.

It comes weeks after Pistorius announced plans for Germany's Armed Forces to spend 35 billion euros ($41 billion) by 2030 on space defenses, citing growing threats posed by Russia and potentially China, AFP reported.

"We must develop and possess the capacity for deterrence and defense," Pistorius told a press conference in Berlin.

Both Russia and China are "heavily involved" in space and "positioning themselves to influence other satellites" from Europe and the United States, Pistorius said.

The minister acknowledged that "Germany alone will not keep pace with Russia and China," but said European NATO countries can work together "to ensure that we remain capable of action and defense."

The new German funds will focus on sovereign military capability, policy research organization RAND said in a November 13 analysis.

"The ultimate goal is to improve Germany's defense and technological independence, as great-power rivalries have long since moved into the space domain," it said.

It noted that dependence on allies or commercial providers "can be risky if critical services prove unavailable during crises."

Central role of satellites

A military satellite operations center is set to be established to coordinate defensive responses to attacks, according to RAND.

"Germany's space strategy has understandably begun to prioritize hardening satellites against hacking and jamming, expanding orbital surveillance systems, and investing in 'guardian satellites' to protect particularly vulnerable assets."

Satellite systems play a central role in modern communications, internet service, GPS systems and weather forecasting -- all with major implications for military operations as well as civilian life.

A cyberattack against satellites at the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine caused the failure of several hundred wind turbines on German soil, Pistorius noted.

"Everyone can imagine what an effective strike in space could do to satellite systems -- it would paralyze entire countries, and I think it is only natural for Europeans, Germany and NATO to want to protect themselves against this," Pistorius said.

The minister vowed that Germany would "not pursue an offensive strategy in space," but said that the ability to launch counterstrikes against opponents is necessary.

"We will neither attack nor allow the attack of another nation's satellite, now or in the future," Pistorius said.

Germany is aiming for a "peaceful, sustainable and rules-based" use of space in order to "prevent an arms race," according to a press release.

Germany's space security strategy also includes "programs on asteroid defense" and efforts to "address the major issue of space debris," Minister for Space and Research Dorothee Baer said.

Independence in space

The German initiative follows other European efforts to achieve greater independence in space, including European Space Agency (ESA) plans to launch IRIS2, an internet satellite constellation, by 2030.

Three major European aerospace firms -- Leonardo, Airbus and Thales -- in October reached a framework deal on a proposed merger of their satellite businesses, Reuters reported.

Cooperative European space efforts include joint launch capabilities, efforts to develop reusable rockets and international space programs.

Aside from direct military applications, the plan is also to use space as a driver of economic innovation, according to RAND, which points out that there are some promising signs in the private sector.

The Federation of German Industries' New Space initiative supports companies in an effort to reduce Europe's technological dependence on other nations, it says.

The federation has recognized that spaceflight could be a motor for new AI-driven products and markets, while also promoting strategic independence in space launch technology.