New Zealand has signed up for another two years to an elite US-led space security group that America is aiming to expand and make more combat ready.<\/p>\n
The Defence Force joined the seven-nation Operation Olympic Defender group in 2024 and has now signed up to till 2028 saying it is about making space safe and secure.<\/p>\n
The US agrees but adds it is also about being able to defeat adversaries and be “superior” in space especially over China.<\/a><\/p>\n The Pentagon this month for the first time confirmed it had deployed weapons in space.<\/a> This comes as the Trump Administration moves to build a Golden Dome missile-defence system.<\/p>\n Increased ‘integration’<\/p>\n Olympic Defender initially focused on the seven countries’ space forces sharing information but this year – dubbed the “year of integration” by US Space Force – it has got to the point they can do space operations together.<\/p>\n Congress wants the group to expand and has asked what policy changes<\/a> the governments of Japan and South Korea would need to make in order to be invited in.<\/p>\n Leading commentators say a growing challenge is how NZ can retain command sovereignty when AI defence tech is increasingly integrated.<\/p>\n The NZDF earlier told RNZ that references by US Space Command to increased “integration” and multinational structures reflected closer coordination and information-sharing among partners “rather than any change to New\u202fZealand’s authority or role”.<\/p>\n “NZDF personnel may participate in collaborative planning forums and shared awareness initiatives; however, these do not constitute binding multinational command arrangements.<\/p>\n “New\u202fZealand retains full sovereignty and decision-making authority at all times.”<\/p>\n ‘Unify space operations’<\/p>\n The US is typically more bullish than NZ in describing joint defence initiatives.<\/p>\n Its Space Command has emphasised throughout 2026 that space is a warfighting domain and that allied integration is fundamental to maintaining space superiority.<\/p>\n “We are formalising multinational orders and decision-making structures [within Olympic Defender] to ensure our combined forces are postured to deter aggression and defeat adversaries,” it said recently.<\/p>\n It also added it was working to reduce “potential adversaries’ space-enabling infrastructure and influence in the Western Hemisphere and around the world.”<\/p>\n