Germany will invest \u20ac35 billion ($41 billion) in space-related defense projects by 2030, stepping up the country\u2019s technological independence and ability to protect its assets in orbit amid an increasing militarization of outer space, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said.<\/p>\n
Pistorius announced in a speech at the German industry\u2019s third Space Congress, held in Berlin.<\/p>\n
\u201cSatellite networks today are an Achilles heel of modern societies. Whoever attacks them paralyzes entire nations,\u201d Pistorius said. He pointed to the Russian cyberattack on the ViaSat satellite network before the Ukraine invasion, which affected the operational control of approximately 6,000 wind turbines in Germany, he said.<\/p>\n
Pistorius outlined plans for a comprehensive military space security architecture, including hardened systems against attacks, improved orbital surveillance through radars and telescopes, future \u201cguardian satellites,\u201d and Germany\u2019s own military satellite operations center within the Bundeswehr\u2019s Space Command. The command was created in 2021 under the umbrella of the country\u2019s air force.<\/p>\n
Pistorius singled out Russia and China as potential space opponents, saying two Russian Luch-Olymp reconnaissance satellites were tracking two Intelsat satellites used by the Bundeswehr. He questioned \u201cthe purely peaceful nature\u201d of such behavior and emphasized how close Germany has come to \u201creal threat scenarios.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRussia\u2019s behavior, especially in space, poses a fundamental threat to us all. It is a threat that we can no longer ignore,\u201d Pistorius said.<\/p>\n
The 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which 117 countries have ratified, including all major spacefaring nations, prohibits placing weapons of mass destruction into orbit and stipulates that celestial bodies may be used \u201cexclusively for peaceful purposes.\u201d<\/p>\n
A notable policy shift emerged from the remarks, too, with Pistorius stating that Germany must consider developing offensive capabilities in space to maintain credible deterrence. This marks a\u00a0departure from Germany\u2019s prior space policies, which had been explicitly defensive. \u201cWe must also be able to deter in space in order to be defensible,\u201d he declared.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Germany\u2019s space defense investment comes amid broader increases in its military budget. With recent boosts to military funding, Germany is\u00a0already fourth globally in terms of defense expenditures, behind the U.S., China, and Russia.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Germany will invest \u20ac35 billion ($41 billion) in space-related defense projects by 2030, stepping up the country\u2019s technological independence and ability to protect its assets in orbit amid an increasing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3021,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[524,395,275],"class_list":["post-2686","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-defence","tag-germany","tag-space"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/SPACE-GERMANY.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2686"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3022,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2686\/revisions\/3022"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3021"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2686"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2686"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thedefencenews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2686"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}