![\"German](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/https:\/\/d1e00ek4ebabms.cloudfront.net\/production\/b5e59d70-c273-4681-bdd9-13d7d1eccbbd.jpg\")
German defence minister Boris Pistorius, pictured with minister for research, technology and space Dorothee Baer, said it was vital to develop \u2018deterrence and defence capabilities\u2019 \u00a9 Hannibal Hanschke\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\nUnlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free<\/p>\n
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.<\/p>\n
The German government has approved its first space strategy, as the EU\u2019s largest nation uses its vast new defence budget to seek to counter Russian and Chinese influence in the Earth\u2019s orbit.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Ministers on Wednesday gave the green light to the plan, which comes weeks after defence minister Boris Pistorius pledged to spend \u20ac35bn on military space capabilities by 2030.<\/p>\n
The strategy sets out the need to identify dangers and threats in space and develop responses, as well as building deterrence and promoting international co-operation.<\/p>\n
Speaking on Wednesday, Pistorius said that the space domain had become so vital that \u201ca failure or disruption would have serious consequences for our security and our everyday lives\u201d. <\/p>\n
He added: \u201cWe are already seeing, for example, that Russia regularly jams GPS signals in the Baltic Sea region.\u201d<\/p>\n
With the increasing militarisation of space, he said, it was vital to develop \u201cdeterrence and defence capabilities\u201d.<\/p>\n
German defence minister Boris Pistorius, pictured with minister for research, technology and space Dorothee Baer, said it was vital to develop \u2018deterrence and defence capabilities\u2019 \u00a9 Hannibal Hanschke\/EPA\/Shutterstock<\/p>\n
The defence minister\u2019s announcement in September that he would pour \u20ac35bn into military space technology will make Germany the third-biggest spender worldwide on space technology after the US and China, according to the space consultancy Novospace.<\/p>\n
It comes after chancellor Friedrich Merz unleashed unlimited defence spending after taking office in May, with Europe\u2019s largest nation planning to spend \u20ac650bn on bolstering its military by 2030.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
Still, Germany will remain significantly behind the US, which spent $79bn on space in 2024 alone, according to Novospace. China spent $19bn. Germany\u2019s new budget pushes the country to roughly $10bn a year based on current exchange rates.<\/p>\n
A report published last week by the think-tank Rand said that Germany was \u201cwell positioned financially and technologically\u201d. But it warned: \u201cIt is playing catch-up after decades of under-investment in its defence forces and at a time of growing competition and rapid change for Europe\u2019s space industry.\u201d<\/p>\n
Russia\u2019s war in Ukraine has underlined the need for European nations to boost their space capabilities, as Kyiv has depended on satellites to provide intelligence for its defence efforts. It has also used satellite broadband both for military communications and to provide internet to civilians.<\/p>\n
Europe has also emphasised the need to allocate more defence spending to reinforce its space capabilities and in 2023 unveiled a space strategy for security and defence.<\/p>\n
Pistorius has said that the German armed forces will seek to develop their own satellite constellations, ground stations and launch capabilities in order to rapidly boost their surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities and reduce their reliance on commercial providers and international allies such as the US.<\/p>\n
He also signalled that he wanted to invest in offensive capabilities, such as jamming technology, that can disrupt enemy systems and \u201cinspector satellites\u201d that can shadow and monitor other nations\u2019 space assets.<\/p>\n
Moscow and Beijing have been accused by Nato countries of increasingly aggressive manoeuvres in the Earth\u2019s orbit, with nations including Germany claiming that Russia has threatened and disrupted their own satellites.<\/p>\n
Germany\u2019s decision to go it alone on military satellite constellations poses questions over its participation in European-wide initiatives such as the secure satellite communication network IRIS\u00b2. The project has been fraught with tensions, with Germany voicing concerns over costs and the benefits to its own space industry.<\/p>\n
Pistorius said on Wednesday that Germany\u2019s new strategy was about \u201cexpanding co-operation and at the same time strengthening one\u2019s own capabilities\u201d. He added: \u201cIt\u2019s the combination that makes the difference.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Unlock the Editor\u2019s Digest for free Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":271986,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-271985","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-space","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-space","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271985","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=271985"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/271985\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/271986"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=271985"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=271985"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=271985"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}