Militarisation of Space and the Private Sector’s Expanding Role - A Geneva Security Debate

Militarisation of Space and the Private Sector’s Expanding Role - A Geneva Security Debate
02 July 2025

The use of space systems to support military activity is not new, but it is expanding rapidly and is increasingly dominated by the private sector. The growing role of the private sector in the militarisation of space and in war fighting raises many space security concerns.

The rapid development of mega constellations and other space systems by private companies and by state-backed initiatives is erasing the traditional boundaries between commercial and government space activities. Given their size, they are hard to counter and as such constitute an additional threat vector.

These developments throw up several questions. Are private sector assets supporting militaries now legitimate military targets? What are the legal and ethical dimensions of the private sector’s involvement in space warfare? What is the impact of dual-use technologies and privately led programmes on strategic stability? What are the implications for space traffic management?

Please join us to learn more about the complexities of this fast-developing aspect of space security.


Experts
Mr Sergey Gugkaev, Executive-in-residence Fellow at the GCSP and former Chief Executive Officer at Sea Launch and former Chief Commercial Officer at ClearSpace
Dr Raji Rajagopalan, Resident Senior Fellow at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute
Mr Dmitry Stefanovich, Research Fellow, Center for International Security, Primakov National Research Institute of World Economy and International Relations
Dr Thomas González Roberts, Academic in Residence, ITU

Moderator
Mr Simon Cleobury, Head, Arms Control and Disarmament, GCSP

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Видео Militarisation of Space and the Private Sector’s Expanding Role - A Geneva Security Debate канала Geneva Centre for Security Policy (GCSP)