Monitoring satellites or observing space debris – these are just a few of the tasks of a new space command that the Federal Defense Minister has now presented.
The Bundeswehr is expanding its reconnaissance and security capabilities in space. Defense Minister Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer (CDU) put a Bundeswehr space command into service on Tuesday. This is a “military-historical step into the future of the Bundeswehr,” she said. It is supposed to take over the protection and monitoring of satellites, observe dangerous space debris and analyze activities of other states as part of the military reconnaissance.
Initially 80 employees
The command works at the location of the Center for Air Operations (ZLO) in Uedem, North Rhine-Westphalia, which the minister visited with journalists on Tuesday.
The new command bundles various areas that were previously dealt with in the Bundeswehr with space issues. It starts with 80 employees, the number of offices is to grow to 250 later. International cooperation within the framework of NATO is also envisaged.
The term space command “perhaps arouses a few adventurous associations in laypeople,” said Kramp-Karrenbauer. “There’s a little bit of science fiction, a little bit of cinema – who doesn’t think of Jules Verne, Orion, the Enterprise or Star Wars,” she said. “Reality is nowhere near as sensational, but it is extremely fascinating.”
Annegret Kramp-Karrenbauer emphasizes defensive character
Kramp-Karrenbauer emphasized the defensive character of the German commitment – but also pointed out that other countries had long since proven that they can “also operate offensively in space”. Outer space is a “public good that must be open to everyone and for which rules are therefore needed”. It is “no longer the exclusive domain of the space nations”.
Germany is dependent on the use of space in many ways. “Many communication applications, digital payment transactions as well as position determination and navigation for private and commercial use would be unthinkable without the use of space,” the Bundeswehr declared last year. The space systems are part of the critical infrastructure that the state wants to protect in particular.
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