US Space Force Strategy Targets Growing Chinese Influence in Space
The United States is accelerating efforts to form a multinational space coalition as competition with China sharpens. At the 40th Space Symposium in April 2025, U.S. Space Force Chief of Space Operations and Wash100 Award winner Gen. Chance Saltzman unveiled the service’s first International Partnership Strategy, a blueprint for expanding military-to-military space cooperation with allies and partners worldwide.
The move comes as China’s own space ambitions surge, including the establishment of a People’s Liberation Army Space Force in 2024 and aggressive pursuit of strategic partnerships in Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. U.S. officials frame the new coalition-oriented approach as essential to countering Beijing’s growing space footprint and preserving the security, stability and sustainability of the orbital domain.
If you’re in the GovCon industry and want to dive deeper into how the U.S. is building an international space coalition with allies, look no further than Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 GovCon International Summit. This Oct. 16 event will feature the panel discussion “Partner to Win: Designing Secure, Interoperable IT for Coalition Space Operations” with Space Force Chief Science Officer Dr. Stacie Williams. Register now!
What Is the Space Force International Strategy?
The Space Force international strategy rests on three goals:
- Empower allies and partners as combat multipliers, leveraging national strengths for collective advantage
- Enhance communication and interoperability of data, systems and capabilities
Achieve full-spectrum integration of force development across allied nations
These principles aim to turn policy into operational reality, ensuring coalition forces can act in unison during crises — and that no single nation, including China, can dominate the space environment.
How Is China Expanding Its Global Space Network?
While the United States formalizes its strategy, China is advancing its own coalition-building. Beyond launching its military space branch, Beijing is working to embed Chinese technology and infrastructure in partner nations’ space architectures. Recent deals have included agreements for ground-based tracking stations and joint satellite programs with countries in Africa and South America.
Analysts warn that these partnerships could give China a strategic edge in space situational awareness, secure communications and rapid launch capabilities — all areas where the U.S. and its allies seek to maintain a lead.
Allied Responses: Strengthening the Counterweight
Australia is pushing to expand the AUKUS security pact into the space domain through a proposed “Pillar 3” that would add southern-hemisphere sensors, rapid-launch facilities and resilient communications to the allied network.
European partners, despite political tensions, continue deep integration with the U.S. in space operations. NATO members are embedding interoperability into exercises and force planning, ensuring a unified front.
The United Kingdom Space Command is contributing through initiatives like Operation Olympic Defender, which aligns allied space assets under a shared defense framework.
These moves, coupled with deepening cooperation with Japan, Canada and Italy, signal a broad consensus that collective space power is the most credible deterrent to Chinese — and Russian — advances.
Building a Resilient Global Space Coalition
National Defense Magazine notes that many allied nations are standing up their own military space organizations, creating fertile ground for embedding coalition structures from the outset. U.S. Space Force leaders are working to align doctrine, training and technology standards across partners, with a focus on:
- Shared space domain awareness
- Coordinated launch and on-orbit operations
- Integrated communications and data networks
- Combined deterrence messaging to adversaries
However, a Government Accountability Office report cautions that staffing gaps, unclear roles and missing milestones could slow progress if not addressed.
Expert Insight: Dr. Stacie Williams to Highlight Coalition IT & Interoperability
Adding to the coalition conversation, Dr. Stacie Williams, chief science officer of the U.S. Space Force, will speak on the “Partner to Win: Designing Secure, Interoperable IT for Coalition Space Operations” panel at the upcoming 2025 GovCon International Summit.
As the Space Force’s senior leader for all science and technology matters, Williams oversees long-term military requirements for a force of roughly 14,000 space professionals worldwide. She engages with combatant commands, acquisition organizations and international partners to ensure the service’s technology roadmap supports operational demands across a coalition environment.
Her background spans leadership roles at the Air Force Research Laboratory, where she directed space science investments, and at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, where she advanced programs in remote sensing, small satellites and high-energy laser detection.
This mix of scientific expertise and operational experience positions Williams to bring a critical perspective on how secure, interoperable IT systems can underpin coalition-based space operations—ensuring that allied partners can share data, integrate systems and act in unison in the face of growing challenges from China and other competitors.
What Is the Strategic Outlook for the Space Race?
The International Partnership Strategy positions the United States as the hub of a combat-credible multinational space coalition. In the long run, success will hinge on sustained engagement, meaningful capability integration and demonstrating that a united allied network can deter aggression as effectively in orbit as on Earth.
As China builds its own web of space alliances, the race is no longer just about technology — it is about who can build the strongest, most trusted coalition in the most contested domain of the 21st century.
To forge important industry-government partnerships in the race to beat China, be sure to attend Potomac Officers Club’s 2025 GovCon International Summit on Oct. 16.
Category: Articles
