Maj. Gen. Wolfgang Ohl, deputy director general for the Armed Forces Directorate of the German Federal Ministry of Defence, gives the opening keynote at the 2026 SmallSat Europe conference. Credit: SmallSat Europe
AMSTERDAM — A senior German military official said Europe needs a coordinated approach to military space operations and proposed the creation of a European Space Component Command hosted by Germany and open to allied participation.
Maj. Gen. Wolfgang Ohl, speaking Tuesday at the SmallSat Europe conference in Amsterdam, said Germany has proposed the idea of a European Space Component Command.
“Right now, everybody is doing their own thing,” Ohl said. “ And there is nobody — not even NATO — coordinating efforts to ensure that three countries are not developing the same capabilities.”
Boris Pistorius, Germany’s defense minister, first announced the proposal during a four-nation meeting of German-speaking defense chiefs last week in Vienna. Pistorius called on countries including Austria, Switzerland and Luxembourg to help shape the initiative rather than simply join it.
