NATO doesn’t operate its own satellites but after space was declared the alliance’s fifth theater of conflict in 2018, a dedicated space command center was opened at Germany’s Ramstein air base the following year.
Russia, which also borders the Arctic, has ramped up its operations in the region of late with warnings of jamming attacks on satellites in the area.
Denmark, Canada, Iceland, Norway and the United States all control Arctic territory and are NATO member countries, along with Sweden and Finland which recently signed up to the alliance
All of those are onboard with a letter of intent on Northlink, along with France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg and the Netherlands.
Separately, some 14 NATO member states agreed to launch the so-called Starlift initiative to work on securing rocket launch capacity on Thursday. That alliance includes Belgium, Finland, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, the U.K. and the U.S.