The Impact and Consequences of the War in Ukraine on Military Space Policies and Operations

On 24 February 2022, Russia started a full-scale war against its neighbour, Ukraine. Since then, the conflict has had considerable consequences on international relations and has impacted many sectors of the economy (e.g. energy, food production, etc.). Contrary to most of the conflicts since the start of the 21st century, which were opposing expeditionary forces to guerillas, the war in Ukraine is a “traditional” conflict witnessing the clash between two states and their armed forces. Interestingly, the space dimension has been a major component of this conflict and has gone beyond the classical use of GPS for navigation or precision-guided weapons. In this context, the employment of space solutions, and the conditions surrounding this use, in particular the major role of private actors, have created valuable lessons that will impact future conflicts…