New Zealand is being drawn into US plans to achieve military supremacy in space.

Written by: Nick G. on 10 September 2026

 

In 2024 New Zealand was invited by the US to join the US-led multinational space initiative Olympic Space Defender. Australia, Canada, Germany, the UK and France complete the seven-nation military space partnership.

According to New Zealand media website RNZ, a briefing on Olympic Space Defender provided to the chief of NZ Joint Forces made it clear that under Olympic Defender, if there was a war, the US and its partners "if directed ... would act to deny space capabilities to nations hostile to the national security interests of the US and partner nations where these were threatened".

Who would give the direction was not identified in the media report of the briefing, but we can assume that it is the US Commander-in-Chief, the President.
In April 2025, US Space Command chief General Whiting spoke at a space symposium in Colorado, which NZ Defence and Space minister Judith Collins also attended and spoke at.

Whiting stated that there is “no debate - the space environment has become a battlefield, with adversaries, particularly China, aggressively developing orbital weaponry."

A briefing quoted him saying: "War in space is not inevitable, but we must apply our best thinking to be ready."

On July 4 last year, as NZ Minister for Space, Judith Collins, in the presence of the chiefs of the defence force and air force, announced the reactivation of a WW2 air force squadron as its first dedicated space unit.

Ms Collins said, “Recent global developments have highlighted the need for resilient, advanced defence capabilities. This move is part of the work the New Zealand Defence Force is doing to maintain a combat-capable, flexible force.”

The announcement came one week after a visit by head of the US Space Command General Stephen Whiting and discussions between him and Ms Collins.

During Whiting’s visit, the New Zealand military offered to help America with the rapid launch of satellites. The US Space Force has said that rapid - or "responsive" - satellite launch was crucial in a crisis or war. This involves having satellites ready to go within, say, 24 hours if deployed ones fail or are blown up.

Whiting also visited NZ company Rocket Lab which claimed to have the capacity to provide rapid satellite launches.

On September 2, 2026, the NZ and Australian militaries formally endorsed a shared Space Vision Statement, to formalise defence collaboration on space.

According to Brian Hartigan, editor of the Australian Contact online military magazine, “The statement highlights the growing importance of space to modern military operations, underpinning communications, navigation, intelligence, surveillance and command and control.”

RNZAF Air Component Commander Air Commodore Andy Scott said “military space operations were a rapidly expanding area of development.”

There is no place on Earth that imperialism has not sought to bring under its control through force and violence and through the utilisation of treacherous local elites.

Australia and New Zealand are no exception to this.

Now space, which ordinary people everywhere hope to see explored and used peacefully for the shared benefit of the peoples of the world, is being militarised as both China and the US, as well as Russia and the European Union, openly plan its colonisation and control by threat of space warfare.

As more people become aware of the threat of the militarisation of space, so will the international movement to oppose and defeat imperialism deepen and grow.

 

 

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