U.S. Space Power and Alliance Dynamics in the Cold War

Abstract U.S. space power has long been anchored to terrestrial geography. In the Cold War, the United States depended on a global network of facilities to track and communicate with military, intelligence, and civilian satellites. But it was difficult to secure access to foreign territories that were both in view of satellites as they passed overhead and politically reliable. Drawing on declassified Australian, British, and U.S. documents, this article details the largely invisible role of allies in U.S. space power. To mitigate the political challenges associated with basing space facilities in non-allied countries, the United States turned to Australia and Britain. But using allied territories was not risk free. Postcolonial independence movements threatened the security of tenure at key U.S. space tracking stations located in British territories in the Indian Ocean. Moreover, Australian concerns that U.S. space facilities were nuclear targets and violated Australia’s sovereignty created a domestic political uproar that strained the U.S.-Australia alliance. Political upheaval, even in allied states, was a significant vulnerability for U.S. space capabilities. Mitigating these political risks thus became a top U.S. foreign policy priority.