Sixteen NATO countries have contributed to a $728 million fund to enhance the alliance’s Space Operations Center, U.S. Space Force Col. Jonathan Whitaker, chief of staff of the Combined Forces Space Component Command at NATO, told Breaking Defense.
The funding aims to provide the necessary mission systems, contractors, training and data for the operations center, enabling battle space awareness and space command and control capabilities for NATO member nations.
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Whitaker explained that the center will establish a new centralized space data repository called the Allied Exchange Environment, or AXE. This system is modeled after, but separate from, the U.S. Space Force’s Unified Data Library. AXE will serve NATO’s command structure as a secure platform for sharing data such as space domain awareness or space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance, optimized for classified environments.
He noted that AXE will likely incorporate data from NATO’s Allied Persistent Surveillance from Space program, which is set to start operations in January 2026. APSS was created in 2023, drawing lessons from the situation in Ukraine, and now involves 19 nations sharing satellite surveillance data through a virtual constellation and co-funding commercial imagery and ISR products, including 3D maps.
Whitaker emphasized that the NATO Space Operations Center’s capability program heavily relies on commercial products, initially using off-the-shelf applications and data sources, and then integrating them, ideally through AXE, alongside national contributions.