US Space Force is in talks with New Zealand and other country partners about launching satellites from them. Photo: Staff Sgt James Richardson Jr, Public domain
Officials say any military participation in United States space activities must not contribute to nuclear command and control systems.
The US Space Force is in talks with New Zealand and other country partners about launching satellites from them.
It is not known what type of satellites.
The US is having to replace its ageing nuclear systems, from the missiles through to the bombers through to command-control-and-communications (NC3), with one much more integrated with many more and smaller satellites.
Government ministers have not addressed RNZ queries about if or how the national security implications of extra launches for the Pentagon are being addressed.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade said: "New Zealand's military participation in space-related activities with the United States are subject to express caveats to ensure that it does not contribute to nuclear command and control systems.
"This is to ensure compliance with New Zealand's domestic law and nuclear free policy, and international obligations."
Launches were looked at case by case for what payload was on them.
The Minister for Space could only approve one if safety requirements and international obligations were met, "including those relating to disarmament and nuclear weapons, and can decline if launch would be inconsistent with New Zealand's national interest," MFAT said in a statement to RNZ.
The law on this is administered by the national space agency within the Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment. But MBIE referred RNZ's questions about NC3 to MFAT.
The US has been looking at allies' rapid launch capabilities since at least 2023, Congressional papers show.
US Space Force is about to issue a new international partnership strategy that calls for allies to become "force multipliers".
It aims to do that through implementing common standards and interoperable systems, and sharing much more data with allies and partners.
It announced this at the world's biggest space symposium in April that Minister for Space Judith Collins spoke at.
Around the same time, New Zealand was represented in a 'Space Chiefs' forum at the symposium site, with 18 other countries. New Zealand has signalled for months it is on board with the United States' various strategies to push for greater collaboration.
Days after this forum last month, Space Force issued a new "space warfighting framework", which includes a slight loosening in rules around attacking an enemy's satellites and lists three types of offensive action and a range of defensive measures.
"Offensive actions directly enable achieving space superiority, which is a priority objective for the Joint Force," it said.
Destroying space vehicles creates a great deal of debris that puts sections of space off limits, and international efforts have been made to deter nations from testing this.
Command-and-control - C2 - was key, the new framework said. Making it fast and seamless among allies is a top Pentagon priority and relies on space.
The New Zealand Defence Force does not have a space doctrine.
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
.jpg){kind=link}