Israel Establishes First Military Space Brigade
The announcement comes as the US Space Force confirmed it has deployed active weapons into Earth's orbit and as the US-Iran war has demonstrated the military value of satellite intelligence for targeting, with Iran confirmed to have used Chinese commercial satellite imagery to locate US Navy ships
ERBIL (Kurdistan 24) - Israeli Defence Minister Israel Katz announced the establishment of Israel's first dedicated military space brigade on Tuesday describing the move as Star Wars in blue and white and saying the new unit will strengthen Israel's military and security capabilities through space-based systems.
Katz said the establishment of the space brigade reflects Israel's ambition to become a leading military space power, leveraging its existing strengths in satellite technology, intelligence, and precision guidance systems to build a dedicated military space force capable of operating across the full spectrum of space-based military applications.
The Strategic Context
The announcement arrives at a moment when space-based military capability has been thrust to the centre of the ongoing US-Iran conflict. US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink publicly confirmed in September 2026 that the United States has deployed active weapons into Earth's orbit, the first such American public acknowledgment. Iran was separately confirmed to have been using high-resolution imagery from Chinese commercial satellites to target US Navy ships and bases in the Gulf and Arabian Sea, a discovery that prompted the US military to change its operational procedures and that drove President Trump to raise the satellite imagery issue directly with Chinese President Xi Jinping during his Washington state visit in September.
The militarization of space has accelerated significantly since the conflict began, with Russia and China issuing formal warnings against weapons in space after the American orbital arms deployment confirmation, and NATO shooting down a Russian drone over Lithuania using Italian Typhoon aircraft from Šiauliai Air Base in the same period. Israel's establishment of a dedicated military space brigade places it formally alongside the United States, Russia, and China as nations with institutionalized military space commands, a strategic alignment that carries particular significance given Israel's deep intelligence and technology integration with the US Space Force.
Israel's existing space capabilities include the Ofeq series of reconnaissance satellites, the AMOS commercial satellite fleet, and the Arrow, David's Sling, and Iron Dome layered air defence architecture that has depended increasingly on space-based tracking and targeting data throughout the US-Iran conflict. A dedicated military space brigade formalizes and expands those capabilities under a unified command structure for the first time.
Italy opened an investigation against Katz alongside 12 other Israeli officials in October 2026 over incidents involving Freedom Flotilla activists, making Tuesday's space brigade announcement one of the most significant Israeli defence milestones announced by a minister simultaneously under international legal scrutiny.