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
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.

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Emma Gatti is a planetary scientist, editor and journalist, and serves as a research professor in Space Journalism and Current Affairs at the Faculty of Space Technology, AGH University of Krakow. She is also the director of The Space Republic, a media...