The United Kingdom and the United States, in a demonstration of interoperability in space, conducted their first coordinated satellite maneuvers.
The Allies’ space commands performed a Rendezvous Proximity Operation (RPO) in September 2025, according to a U.S. Space Force news release. An RPO intentionally moves two or more orbiting satellites or spacecraft close to each other, according to the website Space News.
The space-tracking software company COMSPOC identified the U.S. satellite in the recent RPO as USA 271, which is used for surveillance and belongs to the Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness constellation operated by the U.S. Space Force, according to Space News. The U.K. satellite is the military communications SKYNET 5A, according to a Royal Air Force (RAF) news release. Both satellites are in geostationary orbit — at an altitude of nearly 36,000 kilometers above Earth — and travel at about 3 kilometers per second, the RAF said.
The space domain plays a critical role in U.S. strategic deterrence, with satellites providing capabilities that range from communications to intelligence to early warning.
“This coordinated maneuver between two Allies validated the interoperability that’s foundational to our collective defense,” U.S. Space Force Lt. Gen. Douglas Schiess said in the service news release.
The two nations operated under the Multinational Force-Operation Olympic Defender (MNF-OOD), which was established over concerns of space weaponization such as the reported anti-satellite weapons tests by the Chinese Communist Party and Russia, according to Space News. The MNF-OOD declared its initial operating capability in April 2025, and its participating nations include Australia, Canada, France, Germany and New Zealand, according to U.S. Space Command (USSPACECOM). The coalition shares information, coordinates training and conducts operations to defend member nations’ space assets.
British Army Maj. Gen. Paul Tedman, commander of U.K. Space Command, said the exercise with U.S. Space Command was “expertly executed” and represented a significant increase in operational capability.
“I could not be more pleased or proud of the rapid progress we are making with our Allies in [MNF-OOD]. We are now, with our Allies, conducting advanced orbital operations to protect and defend our shared national and military interests in space,” he said in the Space Force news release.
The U.S. conducted a similar 2025 exercise with France, maneuvering their satellites close to one another and to a third-party satellite, according to Space News. “We are planning an [another] effort with France right now,” Schiess, commander of U.S. Space Forces-Space and Combined Joint Force Space Component Command, told Reuters.
U.S. Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting, Commander of USSPACECOM and MNF-OOD, said the success of the combined space operation is symbolic of the “one unified team” warfighting advantage held by the U.S. and its Allies.
“Though our opponents may attempt to replicate the value of such cooperation, our partnerships are uniquely defined by not only the mutual goal of deterring aggression, but a shared pledge to fight and win shoulder-to-shoulder, if necessary,” Gen. Whiting said in the Space Force news release.