AsterX 2025: The Space Dimension of Military Defense

The fifth edition of the AsterX 2025, the military space exercise organized by the French Space Command (Commandement de l'Espace – CDE), which took place from March 17-28, 2025 at the Center National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES) by Toulouse. The event, increasingly relevant in the panorama of military space operations, saw a strong international participationwith staff from 12 partner nations. Among these, the contribution of the stands outItaly, represented by the Defense Space Operations Command (COS), organism dependent on Joint Operations Command (COVI), which operated with professionalism, competence and a full spirit of international cooperation.

AsterX has now established itself as an essential platform for testing, training and coordinating space capabilities in the military field. The 2025 edition involved 170 participants, military and civilian, with the aim of consolidating the operational readiness of CDE and allied personnel in conducting space operations in increasingly complex scenarios. complex, realistic and multi-domain. This type of exercise reflects a growing strategic awareness: space is a fully operational domain, to be protected and used to effectively support activities in the air, on land, at sea and in cyberspace.

2. Italy on the front line: the role of the COS in the exercise

The exercise was divided into two distinct phases: the first simulated a French national response to emerging threats in a competitive environment; the second one instead focused on cooperation with allies, addressing direct confrontation scenarios in a coalition logic. This shift from a national to an integrated approach has allowed for the concrete testing of interoperability mechanisms between the space forces of the partner countries.

L'Italy played a leading role in the exercise. Two Space Operations Command Officers have been fully integrated into the international system, covering key roles in two of the main operational “cells”. An Officer of the WHAT has been designated as Director of the Space Command of the “GREEN” cell, a simulated element that represented the space support of an allied country. The other Officer, of the Joint Management and Control Center SICRAL (CIGC SICRAL), has taken on the role of Head of Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) in the future planning team of the “BLU” cell.

The exercise offered a complex scenario with 4,000 space objects simulated, 18 events in different orbits e 10 Types of Threats, including cybernetic ones. The challenges proposed included the release of hostile nano-satellites, attacks on friendly satellite infrastructure and the threat of ground-based air defense systems, demonstrating how crucial the defense of space assets is in the modern operational context.

3. Interoperability and the future: towards an integrated space defence

One of the central elements of AsterX 2025 was the strong orientation towardsMulti-domain integration. The presence of Liaison officers from the air, land, maritime and cyber sectors has ensured an indispensable operational synergy. This approach has allowed the space support function to be kept active and coordinated for the other components, adapting the available resources to the specific tactical needs of each domain.

Italy's contribution was not limited to participation, but represented a strategic investment in the development of military space capabilities. The experience gained by the two COS Officers in an international high-tech context has had a concrete impact on interoperability, information sharing and strengthening of technical skills.

The importance of AsterX 2025 lies in its ability to anticipate future conflicts, where the space will be a full-fledged operational theatre. In this context, the Italian presence in exercises of this scale confirms the desire to be the protagonist in international space security and in maintaining information and operational superiority in all domains, while strengthening strategic cooperation with top-level allies.

Source: https://www.difesa.it/smd/news-italia/comando-operazioni-spaziali-cos-difesa-partecipa-esercitazione-spaziale-militare-asterx-2025/68947.html