Militarised NanoSats:Democratising Space Power andDisrupting Deterrence Paradigms

This paper examines the militarisation of NanoSats and applies the U.S. Space Force’s Competitive Endurance framework to explore their potential military utility for space-based Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR), Earth Observation (EO) and terrestrial tactical responsiveness. While military NanoSats could offer redundancy in case of adversarial attacks, their dual-use ambiguity and proliferation rate challenge traditional deterrence paradigms. This complicates attribution and managing escalation control. Moreover, military utility of NanoSats is constrained compared to larger satellites as commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) components in military NanoSat development risk cyberattacks, radiation vulnerabilities, diminish sensor ability, and decrease operational life. This highlights the fundamental trade-off of military NanoSats: affordability and modularity enable rapid deployment but expose them to adversarial exploitation. The United States military and aerospace firms have spearheaded the militarisation of NanoSats. Meanwhile, the military NanoSat programmes in several other states highlight how they can democratise space power. Military-commercial collaboration in NanoSat development further blurs the boundaries between civilian and military space operations. Therefore, proliferated deployment of military NanoSat constellations risks exacerbating orbital congestion and crisis misperception. This underscores the imperative of reconciling military innovation in NanoSat development with collective space sustainability, urging stakeholders to balance military advantages of NanoSat constellations with the risk of destabilising Earth’s orbit.