Have a personal or library account? Click to login
Satellite Reconnaissance and the Privatisation of Space Warfare Cover

Satellite Reconnaissance and the Privatisation of Space Warfare

By: Rafał Kopeć  
Open Access
|Dec 2025

Abstract

Armed conflicts often act as a trigger for changes in the military. This is also the case of the Russia-Ukraine war. This article looks at trends in the militarisation of space, broadly understood as any military activity in outer space. It focuses on satellite reconnaissance, recognised as remote sensing from space for military purposes. Particular attention is paid to the use of commercial imagery for the purposes of armed conflict. The text focuses on the impact that the fusion of the military and commercial dimensions of space activity may have on conducting military operations and on the broader political environment. The concept of space power was adopted as the theoretical framework, with its two key factors: capacity and autonomy. The main conclusion is that although direct and indirect adaptation of solutions from the commercial sector increases the level of capacity, this trend is also a challenge in terms of autonomy, as new space economy entities gain far-reaching independence from the countries in which they operate.

Language: English
Page range: 59 - 74
Submitted on: Mar 13, 2025
|
Accepted on: Jul 8, 2025
|
Published on: Dec 18, 2025
In partnership with: Paradigm Publishing Services
Publication frequency: 2 issues per year

© 2025 Rafał Kopeć, published by University of Wroclaw, Faculty of Law, Administration and Economics
This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 License.