ESA leaders greenlight $1.6 billion for new ‘non-aggressive’ space security initiative
ESA's ruling Council of Ministers approved a whopping $25.7B in funds over the next three years — a 32 percent increase over the previous three-year budget.
ESA's ruling Council of Ministers approved a whopping $25.7B in funds over the next three years — a 32 percent increase over the previous three-year budget.
The new strategy calls on German MoD to develop a number of new space-based capabilities, including "effectors" to counter adversary threats on orbit such as agile spaceplanes and "bodyguard" satellites with shoot-back systems.
The State Department's damning critique argues that, if enacted, the draft law would imperil cooperation on "space weather, remote sensing, space exploration, spaceflight safety, space debris mitigation and remediation, [and] communications."
Since its founding 50 years ago, the European Space Agency has shunned involvement in military space activities.
"Project Bromo is a sovereignty play," Caleb Henry, research director at Quilty Space, told Breaking Defense.
The long term defense readiness project also calls for 40 percent, at minimum, of European Union defense acquisitions to be carried out on a joint procurement basis by the close of 2027.
Analyst Max Bergmann told Breaking Defense that if President Donald Trump's claim is to be taken literally, “there's a lot of work that has to be done” in budgeting terms by individual nations.
The “United Kingdom and the European Commission should swiftly explore any possibilities for mutually beneficial enhanced cooperation created by the SAFE instrument, once adopted, in accordance with their respective legal frameworks,” states a UK-EU "Common Understanding" document.
There are a lot of hopes within DoD and the Space Force for Project Kuiper's success, with officials seeing the constellation as offering diversity beyond Starlink in the supplier base for so-called proliferated LEO services.
Spain has historically lagged in defense spending relative to nearly all other NATO nations, but that could change with a high-dollar and wide-ranging build-up.
“SAFE will allow Member States to immediately and massively scale up their defence investments through common procurement from the European defence industry, focusing on priority capabilities," a statement from the European Commission reads.
To deal with the changing geopolitical landscape, Cingolani called for "stronger alliances" and "industrial synergies."
Many of the sensors contributed by the 15 EU SST participating states are military assets, and the European Defence Fund also is being tapped to help foster commercial innovation in the space situational awareness domain.
"We are in an era of rearmament," said Ursula von der Leyen, European Commission President. "And Europe is ready to massively boost its defence spending.”