The Russian satellite, Cosmos 2612, spent more than two weeks maneuvering toward ICEYE-X36, a radar satellite operated by the American arm of Finnish company ICEYE that supplies imagery to Ukraine’s military through some of its spacecraft, then shadowed it from as close as a third of a mile through the weekend of Oct. 17.

U.S. Undersecretary of State Thomas G. DiNanno called the Russian satellite’s behavior “threatening,” and said the country had been “intentionally maneuvering dangerously close to a commercial satellite, behaviors consistent with on-orbit weapons operations.”

Space historian and former NASA astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell said that he believed it is the first rendezvous in low Earth orbit between two active satellites without one owner’s approval.

The close encounter came weeks after Air Force Secretary Troy Meink publicly confirmed that the U.S. has weapons in orbit and the Space Force picked two companies to build space-to-space reconnaissance satellites. It also followed reports that trillionaire Elon Musk — under White House orders — slowed the military-grade Starlink that Ukraine relies on, rendering some of the country’s essential air defense weapons useless.

The operation fits a wider Russian campaign of intimidation against Europe and the U.S. that lets Russian President Vladimir Putin “poke the West in the eye and watch the West do nothing,” according to Clayton Swope, deputy director of the Aerospace Security Project at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.

“They prove a point – the West can’t stop me,” Swope added Wednesday during a CSIS panel on the encounter.

As the U.S. and its allies increasingly rely on commercial capabilities for national security, key assets like satellites have “become vulnerabilities that can be exploited by our adversary,” according to Greg Gillinger, senior vice president of strategy and development at Virginia-based Integrity ISR, who also spoke on the CSIS panel.

The impact of a possible satellite attack could reach well beyond one company or country, since commercial satellites now carry much of the imagery and connectivity militaries fight with, experts said. Musk’s Starlink slowdown in Ukraine showed how quickly a military force can suffer when that access is throttled without notice — and how easily local geopolitical conflicts can explode into global security crises.

On Oct. 12, commercial trackers feeding the U.S. military’s Joint Commercial Operations cell flagged the possible rendezvous when Cosmos 2612 slid into ICEYE-X36’s orbit roughly 345 miles above Earth, according to Integrity ISR’s newsletter.

On Oct. 15 and 16, the Russian satellite moved from more than 200 miles behind ICEYE-X36 to roughly 3 miles away before moving in closer and holding position through the weekend, tracking firm LeoLabs said in a statement reported by CNN.

Both satellites travel at roughly 4 miles (7 kilometers) per second, so getting two objects “within a hundred meters or even a kilometer” of each other is “the equivalent of flying in a very tight formation in an aircraft,” Gillinger said.

“Russia didn’t accidentally get within a kilometer of X36,” he said. “It is an indication of intent that they’re sending a message.”

ICEYE, whose radar satellites see through clouds, smoke and darkness, expanded cooperation with Ukraine’s military, pledging continued imagery “on tactical timelines,” according to a January statement. However, the company has not confirmed which of its satellites serve Kyiv.

Moscow has warned since the first year of its full-scale invasion that Western commercial satellites helping Ukraine could become legitimate military targets.

ICEYE said it is “aware of the situation and tracking it closely” and that its “constellation architecture is designed for continuity and resilience,” a spokesperson told Air & Space Forces Magazine earlier this week.

Russia’s intent behind the satellite maneuvers remains unclear. According to LeoLabs, an American space technology company, possible aims range from intelligence collection and close inspection to coercion and groundwork for future operations against satellites.

The maneuvers demonstrated capabilities that could be used to “inspect, characterize, shadow, or potentially interfere with another spacecraft,” though they “do not establish hostile intent,” the company said.

Analysts could not yet say whether Moscow planned an attack and then reversed course, or was orbiting nearby for another purpose entirely.

Russia could have been doing “a dry run” for a future attack, or the satellite could have been carrying a weapon, from a jammer to a laser to a projectile, Swope explained.

“Was the intent to blow up the satellite? No,” he said. “Was the intent to put some type of energy on the satellite? Probably… I don’t know why you’d need to maneuver in this way, this close, unless you wanted to do something that involved putting energy on that satellite.”

The Russian satellite has since pulled back, but not far.

It was again flying at ICEYE-X36’s altitude on Wednesday, holding roughly 250 miles (400 kilometers) behind it, and could “easily close that gap again at the time and place of their choosing,” Gillinger said.

Russia could try to approach another ICEYE satellite within weeks, as two more satellites from the same launch will soon line up with the orbit of a second satellite, ICEYE-X37, according to Integrity ISR.

If they move in, “we could see another scenario where another commercial satellite is closely trailed by one of these Russian satellites,” Gillinger said.

The retreat began Oct. 18, two days after President Donald Trump signed an executive order waiving tariffs and most economic restrictions on Russia.

Swope said Trump’s move to ease sanctions “could have been a reason why Putin said, ‘You know, now’s not the time to exacerbate tensions specifically with the United States. Maybe we should pause this operation.’”

“If you’re getting close to a deal on something, why jeopardize that?” he said.

The potential for a conflict in space has been growing in recent months.

Washington “appears to lack response options” if Russia threatened U.S. military and commercial satellites with a nuclear weapon in orbit, according to the conclusions from a 2025 war-game scenario where fictional Russian space objects threatened American interests.

There is no public indication that Cosmos 2612 carries a nuclear weapon, but Swope said that there is also still no internationally recognized rule for determining if a maneuver like this one should be considered hostile — or what international standards should be followed in a response.

“Even though we all can make a good case on why this was [hostile], there’s no norm that you could point to,” he said.

Without a clear response plan or real consequences for aggression, menacing satellite moves like this one are “literally just a spigot that Russia could turn on and off” to increase pressure on adversaries, Swope said.

Russia, he added, “is going to turn it on again.”

Space Systems Command awarded the prototype contracts to Northrop Grumman and True Anomaly under the Geosynchronous High-Resolution Optical Space-Based Tactical Reconnaissance program, or GHOST-R, on Sept. 18.

The deal pairs a veteran American defense prime with a four-year-old space tech company – both of which are already under contract with the Space Force to develop space-based interceptors for the Pentagon’s Golden Dome missile defense initiative.

“To be able to negate threats in space, we must be able to find, fix, track, and target those threats,” Gen. Stephen Whiting, head of U.S. Space Command, said Sept. 16 at the AMOS Conference in Maui, Hawaii, just days before the announcement.

“Targeting in the space domain is maturing, but it still has a long way to go.”

GHOST-R is meant to address some of these problems by using “commercially developed space vehicles, buses, and electro-optical payloads to deliver high-resolution, space-to-space imagery for characterizing resident space objects in [geostationary Earth orbit] GEO,” according to the command announcement.

The new contracts are the latest major development in the RG-XX program, the Space Force’s next-generation orbital tracking initiative aiming to field a fleet of agile, low-cost reconnaissance satellites in geosynchronous orbit to help build out U.S. defense capacity in space by the end of the decade.

“Collaborating with DIU on GHOST-R is a true force multiplier. We are leveraging rapid prototyping to push the envelope of what commercial tech can deliver to the RG-XX program,” Col. Bryon McClain, acting Portfolio Acquisition Executive (PAE) for Space Combat Power, said in the release.

Northrop will deliver a prototype the size of a “small suitcase” built on its ESPASat-L spacecraft, using a commercial optical sensor, and produced on “an accelerated 24-month timeline.”

“Space is becoming more congested and contested every day, and our joint forces depend on clear, timely insight into what’s happening on orbit,” Ryan Tintner, Northrop’s vice president, said in a company announcement about the deal.

True Anomaly will deliver its Jackal autonomous orbital vehicle and Mosaic command-and-control system, a dynamic operations sensor suite, through the initiative, according to the company’s release.

“As agile, maneuverable adversary platforms become more capable, the reconnaissance architecture can no longer rely on a handful of exquisite assets,” company CEO and co-founder Even Rogers said in the announcement.

Neither the Pentagon nor the companies have so far disclosed the value of the contracts or the source of their funding – although the money did not come from Andromeda, the Space Force’s up to $6.2 billion contract pool for RG-XX, an SSC spokesperson told Breaking Defense.

The new GHOST-R prototypes are set to launch directly to geosynchronous orbit by 2028 and fly government-owned and operated missions by 2029, officials said.

The push comes after restrictions by the United States on satellite access in Ukraine and the Middle East over the past two years underscored the risk of dependence, executives and policy makers said at an industry conference here last week.

“Sovereignty” was a recurring theme at the World Space Business Week, held from Sept. 14 to 17 in Paris, and the two-day Space Defense & Security Summit side event.

U.S. firms touted their ability to build satellites in Europe or operate free from International Traffic in Arms Regulations, while European companies highlighted their ability to provide local clients with complete satellite systems.

“The drive to sovereignty, we all have customers that want to go there,” said Noam Segal, the chief executive officer of Israeli firm ImageSat International, or ISI. “Any of the defense customers we are dealing with can find themselves in a geopolitical situation in which one of the suppliers will not be able to deliver. I think this is the driver.”

The war in Ukraine has highlighted both the importance of satellite data on the modern battlefield and the reliance of Western militaries on U.S. suppliers for critical space capabilities. Restrictions on Starlink access in Ukraine, a halt in U.S. intelligence sharing with Ukraine in March 2025 and imagery restrictions over the Middle East in 2026 are pushing European countries to seek sovereign alternatives.

The lesson from Ukraine has been to show how critical space has become for defense, as well as “the importance of indeed not being reliant on solutions you don’t control,” said Guillaume de la Brosse, head of the defense policy and innovation unit at the European Commission, the European Union’s executive arm.

He said there is a “clear imperative” to accelerate development of sovereign space-based capabilities in Europe, meaning a minimum backbone of public assets owned by either the EU or member states, and an EU-based industry able to provide sovereign services “that we can control all the time.”

“Sovereignty very much matters, this is what we’ve learned from Ukraine,” De la Brosse said. “That does not preclude the fact that we need cooperation, whatever happens, but that as a pre-requirement has sovereignty. It’s good to cut dependencies where we need to cut dependencies, and that’s very much the agenda of the upcoming years.”

Recent history showed space sovereignty is the only ultimate guarantee of having the freedom to “assess and act when conflict breaks out,” said Jean-Baptiste Paing, a deputy director at France’s Directorate General for Armament whose responsibilities include intelligence and space operations. He cited the difficulty obtaining commercial satellite communications over Afghanistan and, more recently, access to commercial imaging during the various crises in the Middle East.

The emergence of New Space, the shift from a government-dominated to a private space industry that has cut the cost of launchers and satellites, is allowing European governments to establish space sovereignty even with relatively limited budgets, executives said.

The number of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance satellites for defense purposes, “a key priority for most nations,” is expected to increase more than fourfold through to 2035, according to industry consultancy Novaspace, which organized the conferences.

New Space provides “an incredible opportunity” for countries that didn’t have a space industry to develop their own sovereign capabilities, said Vincent Dedieu, the CEO of Sodern, a unit of France’s ArianeGroup. He said Sodern has been working with countries such as Poland, Bulgaria and Finland, which are taking advantage of New Space to catch up in both defense and commercial space.

The fact that customers are now able to own space assets at a “completely different cost point” from the past means the push for sovereign capabilities “is a strong trend that’s going to be there for the future,” according to Segal at ISI.

There is a “seismic shift” in how industry and governments deal with space capabilities, said Julia Gottfriedsen, chief technology officer at German thermal-imaging startup Constellr. She cited the example of Germany buying data from ICEYE and Rheinmetall for its brigade in Lithuania, through a service-level agreement that shifted the risk for data supply to the companies.

“So this is pretty modern and new, while in parallel, of course, the governments are also looking into procuring their own infrastructure,” Gottfriedsen said.

Executives at U.S.-based geospatial intelligence firms such as Planet Labs, BlackSky and Vantor all noted that their satellites can be delivered ITAR-free, with several highlighting their European presence or ability to manufacture their satellites outside the Untied States.

HawkEye 360 CEO John Serafini said partnerships with Italy’s Leonardo and Czechia’s ERA and having a Luxembourg subsidiary means he’s confident that “even as a U.S. company,” the firm can meet the requirement of European militaries “regardless of how those customers want the sovereignty delivered to them.”

Planet Labs cut the ribbon on a new facility in Berlin this week, and co-Founder and Chief Strategy Officer Robbie Schingler said the company’s first German-built Pelican satellite is set to come off the production line by the end of the year and sent into orbit on a German-built Isar Aerospace rocket launched from Norway “sometime early next year.”

Meanwhile, Finland’s ICEYE is taking sovereignty “to a whole different level” to fulfill a German order for a 40-satellite constellation, setting up a manufacturing site in western Germany controlled by a German-owned entity and keeping the entire supply chain within the country, according to CEO Rafal Modrzewski. That does require a sufficiently large order to justify the investment, he said.

For European customers that own and operate a smaller number of ICEYE satellites, such as Sweden, Finland, Poland and the Netherlands, the company is now offering a software layer that allows countries to “federate their assets at the tactical level” and borrow each other’s capabilities to cover areas of interest, Modrzewski said.

One element of sovereignty is assurance and control, another is choice, said Schingler at Planet Labs. The federation approach allows countries to network their systems for an ad hoc mission, “and that choice also gives a lot of sovereignty,” he said.

The European Commission is pushing for international cooperation to remain the way of doing things in space, including through discussions with NATO about space security, even if “that cooperation is very much challenged, and there is a need for Europeans to do much more, investing in their freedom of action,” De la Brosse said.

He said that as EU members invest heavily in space, one challenge is to avoid “renationalization of space policies,” and the commission is using the EU budget to provide an incentive to member states to coordinate investments and pool space resources rather than develop constellations without taking other member states into account.

Germany’s plan to invest a “massive” €35 billion in sovereign military space capabilities by 2030 may raise concern among some EU members that the country will “fly solo,” but the investment is a legitimate sovereign choice, said Paing at the DGA.

“I cannot speak for sovereignty myself without recognizing the same capacity in other countries, and I think it should be seen more as a model to follow for others rather than something to be afraid of,” Paing said. “That being said, I believe that this investment should nevertheless be put at the service of building a stronger Europe.”

Sovereignty also includes the ability to get satellites into orbit, executives said, with several remarking on the scarcity of launch slots. Nicolas Lefort, the head of new markets at MBDA, said France’s Toutatis project to bring a maneuverable satellite into low-Earth orbit is still waiting for a launcher.

François Lombard, the head of connected intelligence at Airbus Defence and Space, said he’s optimistic about new European players offering launchers capable of carrying one-ton payloads into LEO, citing a recent successful launch by Germany’s Isar Aerospace, as well as ArianeGroup’s MaiaSpace coming to the market “pretty soon.”

“In that case, European alternatives, which is good,” Lombard said. “There are a few satellites we cannot launch from other continents, so it’s important that we have also the sovereign access to space for this class of satellites in a competitive manner.”

The growth will hinge on the service recruiting more than 200 guardians and civilian specialists to fill instructor roles in anticipation of the large increase in students, Space Training and Readiness Commander Maj. Gen. James E. Smith told reporters Tuesday at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference.

“We understand the requirements behind right-sizing the Space Force, and we are fully postured to meet those goals for FY27,” Smith said.

“Adding 10,000 Guardians over the next five years represents our target, with a significant portion of that growth occurring in the first year,” he continued. “Predictable budget resources will remain vital as we scale operations to maintain our FY27 momentum.”

As of 2024, the Space Force employed more than 14,000 civilian and military guardians, according to the service, with around 9,400 active-duty guardians.

The 200 instructor roles include officer and enlisted basic training, commissioning pipelines, initial skills training and professional military education, according to a STARCOM release. They’d be assigned to Air Force ROTC detachments across the country, Officer Training School and the Air Force Academy, as well as three enlisted initial skills training locations and enlisted PME courses.

STARCOM will work to rapidly onboard and qualify the new personnel to handle the incoming number of students, the release says. In fiscal 2027, STARCOM plans to expand its Basic Military Training channel by more than 90% to accommodate 1,400 recruits at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland, Texas, with initial skills courses also facing expansion to match the increase in students.

Enlisted professional military education will grow by nearly 120% to train more than 1,300 students annually, and the Officer Training School will “scale its pipeline” by nearly 600% to prepare around 850 officer trainees, per the statement.

Air Force ROTC anticipates a 100% jump in commissions to around 200 guardians next year.

After commissioning, new officers enter OTC, which is housed at Peterson Space Force Base, Colorado, with enrollment expected to increase 275% to more than 1,350 officers in fiscal 2027.

Eventually, officer professional military education will absorb an additional 1,600 students for a 330% increase.

“While we currently have a great partnership with the U.S. Air Force for many of our development courses,” Smith said, “ultimately, Guardians require space-minded education and rigorous, domain-specific training to ensure combat credibility, integrate seamlessly with the joint force and protect national interests.”

The news of the growth comes as the White House announced plans in late August to establish a NASA-led Space Force Academy in an effort to expand education opportunities as the nation continues to register space as a “critical domain.”

Chief of Space Operations Gen. Douglas Schiess said in a Tuesday media roundtable at the AFA conference that the Space Force is working with NASA to support the development of the academy, but the service will continue to graduate 100 guardians a year from the Air Force Academy.

“I think we’re at the very beginning stages, and so I think anybody that’s space-minded and is going to have that background that can then get a job in the Space Force as a civilian, that’s great,” he told reporters.

Defense-owned satellites for ISR will drive the future market in the segment, with 2,306 launched into orbit in the 2026-2035 period, from 485 launched in the decade through to 2025, according to data presented by Novaspace Chief Executive Officer Pacôme Révillon at the Space Defense and Security Summit here on Tuesday.

The war in Ukraine has underscored the importance of space-based intelligence on the battlefield, while a brief halt of data sharing by the United States in March 2025 showed the need for governments to have assured access to space-based intel. That in turn has been a boon to commercial providers of ISR satellites, such as Finland’s ICEYE.

ISR “is obviously a key priority currently for most nations,” Révillon said. ”It’s clearly a world that was already largely transparent, but the direction is as much for a diversification of assets for real-time and persistent intelligence.”

Most of the defense ISR satellites launched in the coming decade will be for constellations rather than individual satellites, according to Novaspace.

Government budgets for space defense are forecast to climb to $121 billion in 2028 from $74 billion last year, according to Novaspace, which said at least 55 countries have space defense budgets. Government budgets for space defense amounted to $53 billion in 2022, based on the consultancy’s data.

Novaspace expects the number of operational systems in space may jump as much as fivefold to between 50,000 and 100,000 in 2036 from 18,000 satellites in 2026, increasing the need to keep track of them all.

More than 400 satellites for space situational awareness, or SSA, will be launched in 2025-2034, according to Novaspace. Global spending on SSA is forecast to amount to $61 billion over the period, with defense programs accounting for the bulk of that, at $52 billion.

Air Force Secretary Troy Meink announced Monday at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference that the service has on-orbit space control weapons capable of defending the joint force against “hostile adversary action.”

Meink announced in a keynote address Monday at the Air & Space Forces Association’s 2026 Air, Space & Cyber Conference that the service has on-orbit space control weapons that are capable of defending the joint force against “hostile adversary action.”

Meink offered no other details, saying only that the phrasing was “well thought out.” He said maintaining and being able to depend on U.S. space capabilities is necessary as adversaries develop their own capabilities to threaten them.

“It is critically important that we maintain our dominance not only in the air but in space, and so that we’ve had to take steps to make sure that when we’re threatened, we can take care of that,” he said during his speech.

During a media roundtable following the keynote, Meink declined to comment on the type of weapons or why the announcement was made now.

Meink’s statement is the most direct public acknowledgment by a U.S. official to date regarding space control weapons, but he did not say when the weapons were launched or how many are in orbit.

Meink said that for more than a decade, the U.S. has been aware that adversaries such as China and Russia were developing their own capabilities to threaten U.S. systems.

“We need to maintain dominance in space as it becomes more and more important to how we function, how we operate militarily and economically, civilian-wise,” he told reporters.

The secretary called it necessary for deterrence, but he would not give more details about the weapons, saying that would negate its purpose.

“I’m not going to talk about the specifics of what we’re doing, whether we’ve tested or not tested or anything else,” he said.

Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk said the project will pave the way for the launch of a Starlink-like system for the nation.

“The culmination of the process that began today can and will be a Polish Starlink,” Tusk said Sept. 9 at the MSPO defense show in Kielce, referring to SpaceX’s satellite network. “Anyone closely following the Russian-Ukrainian war knows how important communications are. It is absolutely critical. Without communications, you have nothing to look for on the modern battlefield.”

In a statement, PGZ said that the program is to be implemented from 2026 to 2030.

ICEYE has an ongoing cooperation with PGZ on an Earth observation system for the Polish Armed Forces. The Finnish company has delivered synthetic aperture radar (SAR) satellites to the country’s military under its MikroSAR program. The system is designed as the first component of the military space capabilities toolkit Warsaw plans to develop in the coming years. The ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine has fueled Poland’s efforts to ramp up its reconnaissance ability.

“The cooperation is to draw on the experience gained through the MikroSAR program and is to include the development of a space segment based on a distributed architecture, the development of domestic ground infrastructure, and the establishment of industrial capabilities enabling the system to be independently developed and maintained in Poland,” PGZ said.

The Finnish manufacturer said in a statement that its collaboration with the Polish group is to be based on the partners’ complementary roles.

“ICEYE will act as the technology partner, while PGZ will contribute its industrial and organizational capabilities,” the space company said. “ICEYE will be responsible for developing the satellite system architecture, designing and manufacturing the space platforms, and conducting satellite operations. PGZ’s role will be to organize the program’s domestic industrial base by identifying the group’s companies that will contribute their production capabilities, expertise and technical infrastructure.”

New Zealand’s Civil Aviation Authority was aware the flight from Christchurch pivoted following the agency’s issue of a Notice to Airmen, or NOTAM, to the aircraft, a CAA spokesperson told Military Times.

The Russian Air Traffic Management Corporation notified the CAA of the space activity, the spokesperson said, causing the authority to issue the NOTAM to the U.S. Air Force flight.

In a follow-up statement, the spokesperson said that the CAA was made aware by the Russian air traffic agency of a planned missile launch and associated potential hazard to international airspace within New Zealand’s Oceanic Flight Information Region.

“As a result, we put in place a danger area and issued a NOTAM to alert aircraft operators to the potential hazard,” the spokesperson said. “This does not prevent aircraft from flying through the area, operators make their decisions based on the information available.”

NOTAMs alert aircraft operators of potential hazards to allow them to make operational decisions around flight planning.

“Much of our Oceanic FIR is over international waters, where we have limited control over activities,” the spokesperson said, referring to the roughly 30 million square kilometers of international waters that spans across the South Pacific Ocean, Southern Ocean and Tasman Sea.

“It is normal practice for Airspace Authorities and Air Traffic Service Providers, provided with such hazard notifications to issue NOTAMs,” the spokesperson continued.

Flight-tracking data from Flightradar24 shows a U.S. Air Force C-17A Globemaster III took off from Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand, on Tuesday at 9 a.m. local time, with the call sign ICE28.

The site shows the aircraft landed around 11:30 a.m. back at Christchurch.

The flight was a routine resupply mission scheduled for this time of year, a U.S. Pacific Air Forces spokesperson told Military Times.

“Christchurch is the gateway to Antarctica,” the PACAF spokesperson said. “Both the United States Air Force and New Zealand Defense Force conduct operations and logistical support out of Christchurch in support of our Antarctic science programs.”

The turnaround happened during the U.S. Air Force’s annual Winter Fly-in period, or WinFly, which usually occurs toward the end of August and delivers teams, equipment and cargo to McMurdo Station and Scott Base, both in Antarctica, ahead of its research season.

The PACAF spokesperson declined to comment on whether this flight was in direct support of the WinFly, but a 2012 Air Force release details that a C-17 delivered over 300 passengers and 230,000 pounds of cargo that year to Antarctica.

“Using Christchurch International Airport, New Zealand as the base of operations, the mission of WinFly is to deliver advance teams and cargo to the remote research center in preparation for the main season of Operation Deep Freeze,” the release reads.

Operation Deep Freeze provides support to the U.S. Antarctic Program, managed by the National Science Foundation, that allows for continuous scientific research in the region.

Boeing’s C-17 Globemaster III is a cargo aircraft capable of fast delivery of troops and loads to main operating bases or forward bases in deployment areas. The aircraft can also complete tactical airlift and airdrop missions as well as aeromedical evacuations.

The U.S. payload rode a Japanese H3 rocket from Tanegashima Space Center. It is the second and final sensor in the Quasi-Zenith Satellite System-Hosted Payload program, the first national security space partnership of its kind between the United States and Japan, according to a recent release.

The new payload will deliver near-real-time data to the Space Surveillance Network, improving the U.S. Space Force’s understanding of activities within geosynchronous orbit above the Indo-Pacific. Geosynchronous orbit, about 22,000 miles up, is where a satellite matches Earth’s rotation and remains over the same spot.

Combat Forces Command’s Mission Delta 2 will operate the sensor to identify and track objects in orbit and help operators understand potential threats or opportunities.

The Japanese QZS-7, built by Mitsubishi Electric in Kamakura, Japan, is part of a constellation that primarily augments GPS signals over Japan and the surrounding region.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Lincoln Laboratory designed and built both U.S. payloads for the program. Space Force and laboratory teams worked with Japanese partners for two years to integrate and test the second sensor with its host satellite.

“The successful launch of QZS-7 is a powerful testament to the enduring strength and rapid modernization of the U.S.-Japan alliance,” Col. Bryon McClain, Space Force portfolio acquisition executive for Space Combat Power, said in the release.

“By continuing to merge our capabilities in space modernization and satellite communications, we are maintaining security in a contested space domain and fortifying our shared deterrence capabilities across the Indo-Pacific region,” he continued.

Col. Gina Peterson, deputy commander of Mission Delta 2, said the program helps the Space Force meet threats from peer adversaries and build “resilient capabilities to detect, understand, and maintain custody of objects in deep space.”

The first sensor launched in February 2025 on QZS-6. Mission Delta 2 runs both payloads through the Multi-Mission Space Operations Center/Enterprise Command and Control-Schriever enclave in Colorado.

The U.S.-Japan partnership on this program began with a December 2020 agreement between the Space Force and Japan’s National Space Policy Secretariat.

Brig. Gen. Brian Denaro, commander of U.S. Space Forces Pacific, called the alliance one of the nation’s greatest strategic advantages in the Pacific and said the program demonstrates how the two countries enhance security across the region through collaboration from design through launch.

Destinus, MBDA, Safran, Airbus and Thales signed a letter of intent in Paris on Tuesday to set up the Bliksem EXO consortium, with the intention of entering a binding agreement within three months and starting joint engineering work in August, the companies said in a joint statement.

As Russia has stepped up ballistic missile output, Europe lacks its own system to intercept medium and intermediate-range ballistic missiles mid-course, before re-entry vehicles enter the atmosphere. The continent currently relies on two United States-operated Aegis Ashore sites that use the SM-3 interceptor for exo-atmospheric defense, while Germany is buying Israel’s Arrow-3 system.

“Europe has strong lower-layer missile defenses, but it still lacks a sovereign European upper layer against medium- and intermediate-range ballistic missiles,” Destinus CEO Mikhail Kokorich said in the statement. “Bliksem EXO is designed to close that gap through direct hit-to-kill interception above the atmosphere.”

The letter of intent was signed at the inaugural meeting of an anti-ballistic coalition announced this week, with Dutch Prime Minister Rob Jetten present.

Bliksem EXO is intended to defeat ballistic threats, including systems in the class of Russia’s intermediate-range Oreshnik with separating and maneuvering re-entry vehicles, the companies said. The interceptor system will be designed to detect, track and defeat MRBM and IRBM threats though a kinetic hit-to-kill impact, without an explosive warhead.

Destinus will serve as the consortium lead, responsible for the system integration and the exo-atmospheric kill vehicle, the companies said. The Netherlands-based startup currently develops unmanned systems, including the Ruta Block 2 cruise missile, as well as turbojet engines.

MBDA Deutschland will handle the interceptor booster, launcher and canister; Safran Electronics & Defense will provide the kill vehicle seeker and guidance, navigation and control; Airbus Defence and Space will work on command-and-control and battle management; and Thales will be in charge of the radar and sensor chain, from early warning to fire control, according to the statement.

The new interceptor system will complement existing and planned European lower-layer defenses, rather than compete with them, as it will operate above terminal and theater-level systems as part of a layered European missile defense, the firms said.

The program will be designed for full interoperability with NATO’s integrated air and missile defense and strengthen the European Sky Shield Initiative “by addressing the currently missing upper layer,” according to the companies. Germany has previously proposed Arrow-3 as the exo-atmospheric component of ESSI.

System design, testing and evaluation will draw on Ukraine’s experience in countering massed air and missile attacks, the firms said.