How NATO’s Commercial Space Strategy taps tech firms for faster, smarter defence
June 24, 2025
NATO has launched its first-ever Commercial Space Strategy, marking a major shift in how the alliance works with private space companies.
Announced as the 2025 NATO summit opened in The Hague, the policy moves beyond traditional procurement, aiming to integrate commercial space capabilities directly into defence operations.
This approach signals a strategic shift for NATO, which could give it access to cutting edge technologies and resilience in a time of geopolitical tension.
The strategy formally acknowledges the central role commercial companies now play in space operations. NATO’s new framework aims to harness the extensive capabilities of leading private companies to support its defence mission.
The five pillars of NATO’s Commercial Space Strategy
NATO no longer wants to buy ‘off-the-shelf’. With this strategy, it wants to build an ecosystem where commercial space companies become embedded partners in the defence landscape of the alliance.
To do this, NATO’s strategy is built on five pillars:
- Partnership frameworks: NATO will develop mechanisms for engagement of space companies in a transparent and consistent manner. This will help identify strategic suppliers, define mutual expectations and build long-term relationships.
- Operational integration: NATO wants to embed commercial space capabilities into its missions. This includes using real-time satellite images, communications relays and positioning data.
- Resilience: Leveraging the diversity and redundancy of existing satellite constellations will help NATO become stronger against jamming, cyberattacks and denied airspace. The commercial sector could offer valuable alternative pathways if the primary systems become compromised.
- Innovation and access: NATO acknowledges that commercial companies innovate faster than governments, and by tapping into that momentum, the alliance can accelerate the adoption of cutting edge technologies.
- Governance and standards: NATO will work with space companies to define cybersecurity requirements for commercial platforms, align data governance rules and standardise technical interfaces.
Although the strategy has been formally adopted and published, it’s designed to be a long-term, evolving framework. We can expect a multi-phase timeline, with milestones unfolding over the next two to five years.
What’s the benefit to NATO of the Commercial Space Strategy?
Integrating commercial space capabilities into the defence posture of NATO will give it speed, resilience and scalability. Most importantly, NATO avoids the need to build everything itself from scratch.
Early on, we could see NATO gaining access to real-time, high-quality satellite services that give it improved situational awareness and faster response times. Communications and navigation can be more resilient if NATO has access to dispersed, scalable and redundant space assets.
Space programmes are expensive and can take a long time to produce a result. By engaging with commercial companies, NATO can rent, lease or subscribe to the services it needs, avoiding long development times. It will also have a more flexible set of assets on which to draw that can be scaled up or down based on needs and demand.
There’s a political component here too. By formalising partnerships with space firms in the US, Canada, France and beyond, NATO can strengthen the overall cooperation between defence and industry, and support a trusted network of dual use capabilities.
Which commercial space companies will NATO work with?
NATO is expected to engage with a range of commercial space companies across its member states, including major players like SpaceX, Airbus Defence and Space, Maxar Technologies, and Thales Alenia Space.
These firms offer capabilities in satellite communications, Earth observation, launch services, and space-based navigation, precisely the areas NATO is looking to enhance.
The strategy aligns with a broader defence trend toward dual-use technologies, where commercially developed systems are adapted for military applications, offering faster innovation and greater flexibility than traditional defence procurement models.
