New Zealand and Australia are taking their long-standing Anzac defence relationship into space, formally agreeing to closer military cooperation in a domain now considered critical to communications, navigation, intelligence and modern warfare.
The Royal New Zealand Air Force and Australian Defence Force Space Command have endorsed a shared Space Vision Statement, setting out how the two countries intend to work more closely as military reliance on satellites and space-based systems continues to grow.
The agreement was signed by RNZAF Air Component Commander Air Commodore Andy Scott and ADF Space Commander Major General Greg Novak following inaugural space talks in Wellington.
It marks another significant step in New Zealand’s emerging military space capability.
Space now critical to military operations
Space may appear far removed from conventional defence operations, but modern militaries have become increasingly dependent on technology operating above the Earth.
Satellite systems support communications, navigation, intelligence gathering, surveillance and command and control.
That means disruption to space-based infrastructure could have immediate consequences for military aircraft, ships and personnel operating thousands of kilometres away.
The New Zealand-Australia agreement recognises that dependence and the increasingly complex strategic environment in which both countries operate.
Rather than developing their capabilities entirely independently, the two militaries intend to maximise what they can achieve together.
Building forces that can operate together
A major objective is greater interoperability between Australian and New Zealand personnel and systems.
The Space Vision Statement identifies personnel interchangeability, capability integration and operational readiness among its priorities.
The two countries also intend to work towards a shared domain approach to military space operations.
In practical terms, that could increasingly mean New Zealand personnel understanding Australian systems and procedures and vice versa, allowing the two forces to operate more seamlessly when required.
That reflects the broader Anzac defence relationship, where interoperability between the two militaries has long been considered strategically important.
No. 62 Squadron puts New Zealand into space domain
The agreement follows the RNZAF’s establishment last year of No. 62 Squadron, New Zealand’s first dedicated military space unit.
Its initial focus is understanding activity occurring in space.
Air Commodore Scott sees the establishment of the squadron as a landmark step in New Zealand’s entry into the international military space environment, with the Australian partnership providing another opportunity to develop new forms of defence collaboration.
For a comparatively small defence force such as New Zealand’s, partnerships can also provide access to expertise, experience and capability that would be difficult and expensive to develop independently.
A new generation of military specialists
The agreement is also about people.
Major General Novak says the framework is intended to grow shared expertise, improve interoperability and help develop the next generation of military space professionals.
That points towards a future defence workforce increasingly requiring expertise far removed from traditional perceptions of military service.
Engineers, intelligence specialists, satellite analysts, communications experts, data scientists and other highly technical personnel are becoming increasingly important as warfare and national security become more technologically sophisticated.
Space is becoming another operational domain alongside land, sea, air and cyber.
Security reaches beyond the battlefield
The strategic importance of space also extends well beyond military operations.
Modern societies rely heavily on satellites for navigation, telecommunications, weather forecasting, emergency management and other essential services.
GPS technology alone supports everything from transport and logistics to agriculture and maritime navigation.
That means increasing international competition in space has implications not only for defence forces but for the resilience of civilian infrastructure.
For an island nation deep in the Pacific, reliable satellite communications and navigation can be particularly important during natural disasters when conventional infrastructure is damaged.
Questions for Aotearoa as military space capability grows
The expansion of New Zealand’s military space capability will inevitably raise wider policy questions.
As the RNZAF develops expertise and deepens integration with Australia, there will be an increasing need for clarity about what New Zealand’s military space capability is intended to do, how it fits within the country’s independent foreign policy and what safeguards govern its use.
For Māori, there is another dimension.
The skies, celestial bodies and the wider universe have deep significance within mātauranga Māori, including traditions surrounding navigation, whakapapa and the relationship between tangata and the natural world.
As governments increasingly describe space as an economic, strategic and military domain, there is likely to be a growing conversation about how Māori interests and perspectives are incorporated into Aotearoa’s approach.
The Anzac relationship enters a new domain
For now, the Space Vision Statement is primarily a framework for practical military cooperation rather than an announcement of weapons or a new space programme.
Its significance lies in what it signals.
New Zealand’s Defence Force increasingly sees space as an operational environment that it must understand and be prepared to operate within.
The establishment of No. 62 Squadron began that transition.
The agreement with Australia takes it another step further.
More than a century after Anzac cooperation was forged on conventional battlefields, New Zealand and Australia are preparing for a strategic environment where some of the systems determining what happens on land, at sea and in the air could be operating hundreds or even thousands of kilometres above them.
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