20 European governments approve €24 billion SPACE military space program

Twenty European governments approved a €24 billion ($27 billion) joint military space program called SPACE on September 28, 2026, to establish sovereign defense capabilities across orbit, pooling national defense spending and cutting redundant development through unified procurement; the coalition includes Norway and Ukraine.

The next day, 15 EU member states finalized an agreement under the European Defence Agency to pool and share military-grade tracking data for space domain awareness, the monitoring of objects and activity in orbit. The pact complements the SPACE program with a secure operational framework for following adversarial and orbital objects.

• September 2026: Twenty European governments approve the €24 billion ($27 billion) SPACE military space program.
• September 2026: Fifteen EU member states finalize military-grade space tracking data sharing under the European Defence Agency.
• September 2026: Blackswan Space urges the United Kingdom to increase space control funding in an open letter to Liz Lloyd.
• 2030: The European Union’s readiness roadmap targets flagship projects including the European Space Shield for strategic autonomy.
• 2021: Astroscale demonstrates the ELSA-d mission, approaching and docking with an uncooperative asset in orbit.

Germany committed €35 billion to space security by 2030, France allocated €10.2 billion for space defense, and the European Union pledged €10.6 billion for a secure-connectivity satellite constellation. The European Space Agency also set aside €1.35 billion for the European Resilience from Space program, its first explicit defense-focused effort, to develop dual-use technologies for security, meaning systems with civilian and military uses. These investments reflect Europe’s push for strategic autonomy, though they remain insufficient to fully close capability gaps with the United States.

The SPACE program organizes work across six core defense domains: space-based early warning, secure satellite communications known as MILSATCOM, intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, PNT/NAVWAR covering positioning, navigation, timing, and electronic warfare, and tactically responsive space, the rapid deployment of spacecraft. The plan integrates these domains under one operational umbrella and pools national spending to cut redundant development through unified procurement.

The European Union has proposed a $150 billion budget for defense and space spending across 2028–2034, which could give the union majority control over the European Space Agency’s priorities. The plan could also raise the union’s share of ESA’s budget above 50 percent, redefining the agency’s focus from civilian and scientific exploration toward defense and security activities.

European governments are buying offensive and defensive capabilities to counter anti-satellite weapons, cyberattacks, and electronic interference. The union is expanding security-oriented infrastructure, including GOVSATCOM for protected military communications and IRIS2, a broadband megaconstellation, or large satellite network. These projects aim to reduce reliance on foreign satellite providers and strengthen resilience against orbital threats.

Historically, the European Union handled political frameworks, the European Space Agency managed technical research, and member states controlled military space capabilities. That division is eroding as the European Defence Fund and ESA programs expand into defense-related work, a departure from civilian-focused missions driven partly by geopolitical shifts such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and uncertainty in transatlantic relations.

Europe also relies on civilian systems such as Galileo and Copernicus, and governments increasingly depend on space-enabled services including satellite communications, positioning, navigation, and timing. Those services are vulnerable to anti-satellite weapons and cyberattacks, adding urgency to the security push.

The United States carries out 81 percent of global effective space launches, leaving Europe reliant on American capabilities for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance. Europe’s drive for strategic autonomy also stems from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and growing uncertainty in transatlantic relations.

Research from IISS finds that Europe’s military and dual-use space work remains fragmented rather than integrated because no single coherent strategy ties it together. The institute also warns of critical gaps in space-based early warning and intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, the gathering of battlefield information from orbit.

IISS estimates that achieving full autonomy from United States space assets would require at least $25 billion in additional procurement and Europe could not achieve full autonomy before 2040. Europe would need more than satellites, including hardened ground segments, assured launch access, integrated command and control, secure data-sharing, and cooperation with NATO.

In the United Kingdom, Shield Space, a startup, brought together a coalition of UK space companies to propose a space-based carrier-strike platform, an orbital fleet able to strike targets, to the UK Ministry of Defence. Astroscale UK won a £15 million (€18 million) contract from the ministry to lead LEDA, a secretive in-space defense program. The coalition initiative signals a shift toward more aggressive in-space defense strategies, including potential offensive capabilities.

LEDA aims to stop adversaries from threatening allied space assets through novel operations and general deterrence, including robotic proximity operations, in which one spacecraft approaches another. Alex Godfrey, Astroscale UK’s director of defense, said the United Kingdom is developing both offensive and defensive space capabilities under its defense investment plan, and he stressed that training and operational readiness are essential.

Godfrey said LEDA will require new strategies for deploying autonomy and robust training programs to teach military personnel how to fly new war machines. He cited Astroscale’s 2021 ELSA-d demonstration, in which a spacecraft approached and docked with an uncooperative asset in orbit, and said keeping pace with an actively maneuvering adversary is a different mission demanding greater autonomy and training.

Shield Space Chief Executive Graeme Ritchie has urged the UK military to buy spacecraft carrying a range of effectors, tools that create an effect in orbit, including non-kinetic capabilities, anti-satellite weapons, and nuclear weapons. Europe is not yet ready to deploy nuclear weapons in space, but the proposal signals a shift toward more aggressive deterrence strategies.

The European Defence Fund has backed a study by French startup OSMOS X to develop strategies for responding to threats in orbit. European companies are also developing physical effectors such as robotic arms to capture and modify adversarial spacecraft, aiming to prevent opponents from threatening allied assets with impunity.

In September 2026, Blackswan Space, a Lithuanian company, sent an open letter to UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Liz Lloyd calling for more funding for space control capabilities. The company pointed to a Russian spy satellite’s close-proximity operation with an ICEYE satellite over Ukraine as evidence of the need to deter adversarial actions in orbit.

The United States has confirmed the deployment of space control weapons in orbit, part of a broader militarization of space. European officials argue that collective defense in orbit, rather than separate national systems, is the best way to counter adversarial threats, and Godfrey has advocated a GEO patrol force, a geostationary-orbit guard force, to protect shared infrastructure. Marius Klimavičius said, “we will need to be more aggressive – not just on our rhetoric, but also on the capabilities that we have.”

European governments present the spending as a path to strategic autonomy, reducing dependence on the United States and strengthening deterrence against adversaries such as Russia. The EU’s 2030 readiness roadmap includes the European Space Shield, a flagship project to build interoperable defenses such as counter-jamming systems, and it builds on existing programs like Galileo. Current capabilities remain insufficient to fully close capability gaps with the United States.