The United States Space Command (USSPACECOM) and six allied nations will develop a combined orbital warfare plan to define how to protect and defend space assets from threats in orbit. The concept of operations is expected to be completed by the end of 2026, said U.S. Space Force Gen. Stephen Whiting, Commander of USSPACECOM. It will build on what Allies have been doing through the multinational force Operation Olympic Defender (MNF-OOD), a partnership formed in 2013 under U.S. Strategic Command and later expanded into a multinational effort. Nations involved in Olympic Defender are Australia, Canada, France, Germany, New Zealand, the United Kingdom and the U.S.
Allies participating in MNF-OOD have been discussing the need for “protect-and-defend capabilities, orbital warfare capabilities,” Gen. Whiting said during a May 2026 Air & Space Forces Association event at the Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine. “We are in the process now of building a defense of orbital assets CONOPS (concept of operations) together,” he said. “How do we leverage all of these capabilities that these nations will be bringing with our capabilities to deconflict them? We really want to be able to integrate them and synchronize them and synergize them.”
In a March 2026 statement to the Senate Armed Services committee, Gen. Whiting said in-space threats are increasing: The Chinese Communist Party is building space-enabled kill chains and Russia is reportedly pursuing an on-orbit nuclear anti-satellite weapon.
Initially established as a planning group, the MNF-OOD had reached initial operational capability, and member nations signed their first campaign plan, establishing a framework for interoperable combined space operations, Gen. Whiting announced in April 2025. The Allies achieved five previously defined objectives, according to a USSPACECOM news release:
- Collective concepts of operations for space domain awareness
- A mutually agreed upon combined operational framework
- A defined scope of national space input to the multinational force
- A synchronized and deconflicted means of reliable communications between nations enabled to convey national-level inputs to the multinational force authoritatively
- Campaign Plan development and approval
The command has executed three on-orbit operations under the MNF-OOD framework since 2024, part of the effort’s move from data sharing among Allies to joint operations. USSPACECOM has conducted bilateral operations with France and the U.K. In March 2026, Canada led Operation Selene, a multinational exercise that tested combined space domain awareness. Gen. Whiting called Operation Selene the “most focused, combined space domain awareness operation to date,” according to a U.S. Space Force news release.
“Participating nations synchronized multi-domain effects across eight C2 (command and control) centers, across all of our nations. Operation Selene pushed the limits of space surveillance systems while improving our ability to identify, attribute and respond to our opponents’ behaviors on orbit,” Gen. Whiting said during remarks at the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, Colorado in April 2026. “In fact, Operation Selene was so successful that I’m proud to announce we are now making it an enduring operation for MNF-OOD, further strengthening collective deterrence and defense in the space area of responsibility.”