Satellites are the invisible infrastructure of a modern armed force: they tell you where you are, let you talk over long distances, look beyond the horizon and warn you when a missile is launched.
In practiceA GPS-guided bomb, a radio link with a unit behind a ridge, the weather forecast for a flying mission and the warning of a ballistic missile all have one thing in common: they come (partly) from space. If that layer drops out, every unit notices at the same time.
For armed forces, space is no longer an exotic subject but a precondition. Satellites provide five services that operations depend on:
| Service | What it provides | Example |
|---|---|---|
| PNT — position, navigation, timing | Where am I, where am I going, what exactly is the time | GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou |
| SATCOM — satellite communications | Links beyond the horizon, including to ships and aircraft | Military and commercial networks (see 3.2) |
| ISR — intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance | Images, radar images and intercepted signals | Optical satellites, SAR, SIGINT |
| Missile warning | Early detection of ballistic launches | Infrared satellites in GEO and HEO |
| Weather & space weather | Clouds, wind, solar storms that disturb radio and GPS | Meteorological satellites |
Because everything depends on that layer, space is also a target. Whoever blinds, deafens or cuts off an opponent's satellites hits all of their domains at once. That is why NATO recognised space as an operational domain in December 2019, alongside land, sea, air and cyber (see chapter 4).
Space is no longer a supporting extra: it is a domain in which conflict is fought. The same satellite that helps you is a target for the opponent — and vice versa.