NATO expanding defense clause to attacks in space

A top NATO official on Monday said the alliance will expand its defense clause to include attacks in space, ahead of a scheduled summit between member state leaders.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the coalition’s top civilian official, announced the group’s intention to expand Article 5, which says any attack on one of the alliance’s 30 allies will be considered an attack on them all.

“I think it is important [with] our Article 5, which states that an attack on one will be regarded as an attack on all, that we all will respond,” Stoltenberg said at a German Marshall Fund think tank event, according to The Associated Press.

“We will make it clear at this summit that, of course, any attack on space capabilities like satellites and so on or attacks from space will or could trigger Article 5,” he added.

The U.S. Space Force was officially created in December 2019, after then-President Trump signed the annual defense policy bill that established the force as the sixth branch of the U.S. military.

That same month, NATO leaders proclaimed space to be the coalition’s “fifth domain” of operations, following land, sea, air and cyberspace, according to the AP.

The wire service noted that of the around 2,000 satellites orbiting earth, more than half are operated by NATO countries.

President Biden is scheduled to participate in a NATO summit on Monday in Brussels.