NATO to set up new space centre amid China, Russia concerns

Kester (Belgium), October 20

This week, the Kester Satellite Ground Station in Belgium is ready to fall underneath a brand new orbit, when NATO broadcasts that it’s creating an area centre to assist handle satellite tv for pc communications and key components of its navy operations world wide.

In December, NATO leaders declared house to be the alliance’s “fifth domain” of operations, after land, sea, air and our on-line world. Over two days of talks beginning on Thursday, NATO defence ministers will greenlight a brand new house centre on the alliance’s Air Command in Ramstein, Germany.

“This will be a focal point for ensuring space support to NATO operations, sharing information and coordinating our activities,” NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg mentioned earlier than the assembly.

It’s a part of the alliance’s efforts to maintain forward in a fast-paced and hi-tech sector, significantly amid concern about what member international locations say is more and more aggressive behaviour in house by China and Russia.

Around 80 international locations have satellites and personal firms are shifting in too. In the 1980s, only a fraction of NATO’s communications was by way of satellite tv for pc. Today, it is not less than 40%. During the Cold War, NATO had greater than 20 stations, however new applied sciences imply the world’s greatest safety group can double its protection with a fifth of that quantity.

NATO allies are more and more involved about different kinds of assaults utilizing anti-satellite weapons miles above the earth, which may wreak havoc under and go away harmful particles adrift in house.

“Some nations – including Russia and China – are developing anti-satellite systems, which could blind, disable or shoot down satellites and create dangerous debris in orbit. We must increase our understanding of the challenges in space and our ability to address them,” Stoltenberg mentioned. AP