As part of the World Space Business Week flagship event, the second edition of the Space Defense & Security Summit (SDSS) brought together over 450 attendees from around the world, including military leaders, government agencies, industry executives, and international organizations.
Held on September 16–17, 2025, at the Salons Hoche in Paris, SDSS explored how space has evolved from a strategic enabler to a contested warfighting domain, with sovereignty, resilience, and cooperation at the heart of the debate.
Space as a Core Element of Defense Strategy
With over 50,000 assets expected in orbit by 2034, space has become too critical and too crowded to be treated as a sanctuary. Military leaders from the U.S., France, Germany, Spain, and Canada all underscored that space is now central to operations on Earth, from situational awareness to command and control.
As one panelist observed, “Each conflict has its extension in space.” This paradigm shift is reshaping doctrines and pushing nations to accelerate their space defense strategies. Countries are acknowledging both the defensive and offensive dimensions of space operations, with deterrence now a key strategic focus.
Sovereignty and the Rise of Defense Budgets
Defense spending has become the main engine of global space investment. In 2024, governments allocated $135 billion to space programs, with defense outpacing civil budgets for the third consecutive year. More than 90 countries and organizations are investing in military space capabilities, three times more than a decade ago.
Panelists emphasized the need for speed and agility in capability delivery. As programs grow more ambitious, reliance on the commercial sector becomes indispensable. From launch to satcom and data services, public–private integration will be essential to meet operational needs at the required pace.
Constellations, Autonomy, and Resilience
The era of proliferated constellations has begun, mirroring the drone revolution on Earth. Initiatives such as the SDA’s Tracking Layer, America’s Golden Dome, and Europe’s IRIS² reflect a shift from a few large GEO assets to distributed, autonomous systems. One speaker summed it up: “We will not put fewer satellites into space.”
The conflict in Ukraine has shown that space is the backbone of modern warfare, with satellite systems supporting both strategic and tactical operations. As the domain becomes more contested, distributed architectures enhance resilience, but they also require new doctrines, procurement models, and partnerships to ensure nations can respond swiftly and maintain strategic superiority.
Defense Demand: The Backbone of Today’s EO Market
In 2024, defense-driven data and value-added services surpassed $2.5 billion, representing 46% of the total Earth Observation (EO) market. Defense applications now account for over 65% of EO data consumption, spanning intelligence, targeting, and operational planning. For the first time, the defense VAS segment exceeded $1 billion in annual revenues.
At SDSS, commanders emphasized that EO has evolved from a support function to a tactical asset, with proliferated constellations ensuring persistence and redundancy. Officials from France and Germany underlined the growing importance of multi-sensor integration, combining optical, SAR, RF, and commercial data streams to reinforce resilience against adversary interference.
Space Situational Awareness (SSA) and Space Domain Awareness (SDA): Essential in a Deteriorating Orbital Environment
From cyberattacks on commercial satellites to dazzling incidents against reconnaissance assets, recent events highlight that space is contested daily.
In 2024, governments invested $5 billion in SSA/SDA, though only 3% went to direct commercial procurement. Yet the commercial role is expanding: more than 40 companies now operate in this field, spanning sensor networks (LeoLabs, Vyoma, Safran Data Systems) to in-orbit inspection capabilities.
Speakers stressed the need for hybrid architectures combining diverse, redundant sensors (optical, RF, radar) across orbits and geographies. Commercial agility fosters innovation, but challenges remain in data integration, interoperability, and trust.
Connectivity: The Lifeline of Armed Forces
By 2034, global demand for secure connectivity is expected to exceed 2.3 Tbps, generating $8 billion in annual service revenues. NGSO constellations will drive more than 90% of this growth, while GEO systems will continue serving specific mission profiles.
At SDSS, operators and defense users emphasized the need for flexible, redundant, and secure communications. As one participant noted, soldiers require connectivity “wherever they are, whenever they need it.” This demand is fueling the adoption of multi-orbit hybrid architectures.
France’s use of Syracuse satellites complemented by OneWeb capacity was highlighted as a model of effective hybridization.
Executives from Rivada, Amazon Kuiper, SES, and Eutelsat stressed that military customers prioritize end-to-end sovereignty, supply-chain security, and AI-enabled tools to enhance operational efficiency. However, spectrum scarcity emerged as a critical constraint: “No spectrum, no services, no space programs,” warned one panelist.
Building Alliances in a Contested Domain
From NATO interoperability frameworks to bilateral European cooperation, alliances were a recurring theme. Both U.S. and European leaders underlined that information-sharing agreements must be established in peacetime, not improvised during crises.
As Brigadier General Jacob Middleton stated, “The future is competitive endurance; we are stronger together than alone.”
Looking Ahead
SDSS 2025 made one point unmistakably clear: space is no longer merely an enabler of military power, it is a warfighting domain. Defense budgets, proliferated architectures, and closer public–private integration will define how nations secure freedom of action in, to, and from space.
Save the date: SDSS will return to Paris during the week of September 14, 2026.
