Targets, Treaties, and Trade Secrets: Understanding Space Hybrid Architecture’s Legal Challenges
Abstract
Space is a domain accessible to all states for civil, commercial, military, and intelligence activities. The continuous and interactive relationships among these sectors, in a domain also accessible to allies, competitors, and adversaries, changes the character of modern conflict. The Department of Defense (DoD) can no longer rely exclusively on exquisite government-owned and -controlled systems to relay intelligence from the battlefield to decision-makers. Instead, the DoD strategy for joint warfighting includes a United States Space Force (USSF) hybrid architecture comprised of multilayered publicly- and privately-owned systems to enable the seamless flow of data during peace and conflict. To effectively use a hybrid architecture in a conflict, commanders will need to understand the legal considerations, arrangements, guardrails, risks, and challenges of the individual participants, whether sovereign countries or commercial entities.
This paper builds on the recent Potomac Institute for Policy Studies report “Making Space: Clearing the Way for Hybrid Architecture" by discussing the potential legal considerations that could impact a commander’s ability to use a space hybrid architecture in conflict.
Document Type
Research Paper
Topic(s)
Space, International Law, Military Strategy
Publication Date
4-15-2026
Recommended Citation
Pennington, Todd W. and Sloane, Kim, "Targets, Treaties, and Trade Secrets: Understanding Space Hybrid Architecture’s Legal Challenges" (2026). All Publications. 14.
https://digitalcommons.ndu.edu/csr-allpubs/14