Berlin, Germany. Germany is weighing investments including spy satellites, space planes and offensive lasers under a 35 billion euro military space spending plan to counter growing threats from Russia and China in orbit, the country’s space commander said.
SATCOM Stage 4 constellation plans
Germany will build an encrypted military constellation of more than 100 satellites, known as SATCOM Stage 4, over the next few years, German Space Command head Michael Traut told Reuters on the sidelines of a space event ahead of the Singapore Airshow. He said the network would mirror the model used by the U.S. Space Development Agency, a Pentagon unit that deploys low-Earth-orbit satellites for communications and missile tracking.
Industry talks and European satellite communications efforts
Rheinmetall is in talks with German satellite maker OHB about a joint bid for an unnamed German military satellite project, Reuters reported last week. The potential deal comes as Europe’s top three space firms – Airbus, Thales and Leonardo – are seeking to build a European satellite communications alternative to Elon Musk’s Starlink.
Drivers and scope of planned capabilities
Traut said Germany’s investment in military space architecture reflected a more contested space environment since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, adding that Berlin and its European allies needed to bolster deterrence by investing in secure communications and capabilities that could hinder or disable hostile space systems.
“We need to improve our deterrence posture in space, since space has become an operational or even warfighting domain, and we are perfectly aware that our systems, our space capabilities, need to be protected and defended,” Traut said.
Germany will channel funding into intelligence-gathering satellites, sensors and systems designed to disrupt adversary spacecraft, including lasers and equipment capable of targeting ground-based infrastructure, Traut said. He added that Germany would prioritise small and large domestic and European suppliers for the programme.
Traut said Germany would not field destructive weapons in orbit that could generate debris, but that non-kinetic options existed to disrupt hostile satellites, including jamming, lasers and actions against ground control stations.
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