At the dawn of the Space Age, Earth’s orbit was accessible by only two nations, the United States and the Soviet Union. Today, it is an international and commercial theater of operations for countries and companies around the globe. American power is still dominant in this arena, but it is not absolute. Other nations, both allied and adversarial, have entered the arena with their own organic space programs.

Protecting US national interests is unachievable if the Department of Defense (DoD)1 relies solely on traditional military-owned space systems. International partners integrated alongside intelligence community, civil, commercial, and military capabilities must band together to create a hybrid architecture.2 An effective, integrated hybrid architecture will provide the speed, capacity, interoperability, and resilience to ensure American space superiority, deter adversaries like China, and, if necessary, defeat them. Delay in fielding an international hybrid architecture risks ceding the advantage permanently.

The US Space Force (USSF) must embrace international counterparts as valued partners, which can amplify the reach and power of the hybrid architecture into an enduring advantage for America and its allies. That means removing barriers to entry, avoiding classification challenges, and ensuring that partners are properly incentivized to support and participate in operations. It also means using USSF tools to bring long-standing allies and new-found partners to the table to advance strategic goals.

Key Points:
• Maintaining US space superiority and deterring peer adversaries like China requires the effective employment of an integrated USSF hybrid architecture, which includes allies and international partners.

• Since the US Space Force will not be able to operate a hybrid architecture alone, the US must forge new international alliances and partnerships grounded in a clear, enduring understanding of operational, cultural, and partnership goals.

• Incentivizing allies and partners to join USSF hybrid architecture operations will provide numerous benefits and fulfill US government, USSF, and foreign partner objectives. Understanding these objectives is critical to properly incentivizing participation.

• Information sharing and agreed classification systems will be critical in a hybrid architecture and must be worked out in advance among international partners.

• Creating a formal, multilateral framework of national security-focused space accords will incentivize foreign participation, distribute developmental costs, and allow the USSF hybrid architecture to execute complex multi-domain international operations and wargames under a unified strategy of “peace through strength.”