New Zealand has accepted an invitation to join the UK, Canada and Australia as part of a US-led space initiative known as Operation Olympic Defender, Minister of Defence Judith Collins announced.
The operation was designed to coordinate space capabilities of member nations by deterring hostile actions in space, enhancing resilience of space-based systems and reducing the spread of debris in orbit.
In a statement, Minister of Defence Judith Collins said a New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) liaison officer would be deployed to the US Space Command in Colorado for the next two years.
“Deploying a liaison officer as part of this operation will further enhance the NZDF’s experience in space operations and shows New Zealand’s willingness to uphold the norms of responsible behaviour in space.
“Space-based technologies are essential to New Zealand’s security and wellbeing, such as using satellite imagery to help track illegal fishing, or GPS to support our maritime supply chains,” Collins said.
She said utilising space assets enabled better communication through faster and better-informed decision making “to maintain an effective, efficient, combat capable Defence Force”.
New Zealand is already a member of a forum aimed at building norms of behaviour in space and removing barriers to multinational military space cooperation amongst like-minded nations — called the Combined Space Operations initiative.