US Space Command applies gag over Auckland space-watching hub

A space-watching network funded by the Pentagon that has one of three global hubs in Auckland has played a direct role supporting combat operations in the Iran war.

But US Space Command has gagged the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) from giving details about the Auckland hub's activities to RNZ.

While the NZDF has said it retained sovereignty over the hub, it also said it was not authorised to release the information.

"We have received advice from US Space Command that does not change the decision on your request," the NZDF said on Tuesday.

It suggested RNZ, instead of using the Official Information Act (OIA), try using the US Freedom of Information Act.

Earlier in the year information was released under the OIA, that showed the hub in February tracked launches of Chinese military satellites and an Iranian civilian satellite from Russia.

Watching over Iran

Auckland coordinates the Pacific third of the globe for the US-led Joint Commercial Operations (JCO) network.

The JCO is the single biggest collector of monitoring data on commercial rocket, satellite and debris movements in space for the Pentagon.

The head of the JCO, Barbara Golf, recently revealed the network had also accelerated its use of fledgling new powers for the Iran war.

US Central Command asked the Space Force to broaden its monitoring of electromagnetic spectrums when President Donald Trump ordered the start of Operation Epic Fury on 28 February, she said at a tech surveillance conference last month in Hawaii.

"When Operation Epic Fury kicked off, the answer was, 'We want more of that now in every band you can find'. And so we did that pretty much on the bounce this spring to support Centcom as fast as we could.

"So this is an example of a very rapid expansion of the JCO."

They used it to detect sources of electronic attack on US systems such as from Iranian jammers that could disrupt drones.

"Over the next year our intention is to be expanding this into all six ground combatant commands," said Golf.

US Indo-Pacific Command is one of those six.

RNZ has asked if the Auckland hub was involved in the Iran JCO operations. NZDF did not say.

The conflict is closer to the JCO network's Britain-based hub. The third and final hub is in the US.

'I expect it to explode'

Electromagnetic spectrum operations were added to the JCO network just two years ago - an early job was to help protect the Paris Olympics.

"I expect it to explode into one of our most important capabilities for commercial operations," Golf said at the conference.

The NZDF last year denied the Auckland hub had expanded into electromagnetics.

"The NZDF is aware of the ... mission area expansions, however, the NZDF itself has not expanded its involvement and remains within its remit as approved by Cabinet for JCO."

RNZ has asked it again if it had expanded more recently.

The Chief of Defence Force oversaw the hub and participation was at the agreement of government, it said in 2024.

Information blocked

In August, RNZ reported on notices the Auckland hub had put out in February 2026.

The notices comprised 24 pages that covered just a few days, released under the OIA to someone else.

They showed the hub coordinated tracking of a Russian launch of two satellites for Iran - for weather and TV broadcasting - that the notice said marked a "significant milestone for Iran's space program and continued Russian-Iranian cooperation in space activities".

A Chinese military satellite was also tracked.

RNZ asked NZDF to release more notices, from March to September, as well as the last two years of activity reports.

But this was blocked.

"The NZDF does not have the authority to unilaterally release JCO documentation," it said.

When RNZ asked why the February notices had been released, the NZDF said it "received authorisation to release the three redacted documents".

When RNZ asked Defence to check again with US Space Command to "see if the position has changed" on the new expanded request, it came back and said it hadn't.

RNZ has approached US Space Command. It passed the request on internally and there has not been any comment on why it blocked the release.

'Protect and defend'

Joint Commercial Operations was created by the Pentagon in 2020 primarily to bring commercial data worth about $50 million a year into US Space Command to feed out to combatant commands, but also out to hundreds of agencies and governments in many countries, because space tracking helps avoid debris and with geolocation and other vital space services.

Because the analysis can remain unclassified, the military can also more easily share it with allies.

When the US invited New Zealand to set up the JCO's Pacific cell with Auckland as the hub in 2023, it emphasised this was a "Protect and Defend" mission, and NZ stressed it was for space safety and security.

It has cost New Zealand very little bar a few staff, with US footing the bill.

"New Zealand does not procure any commercial space surveillance sensor data services for the JCO, it is entirely funded by the US," Defence said.

A Cabinet minute in 2023 said the JCO may continue to "evolve in terms of purpose and the technology employed".

NZDF said last month its role in space "is centred on awareness, information sharing, and cooperation with partners".

'Bedrock of space control'

The JCO network's main job is to scan the skies and spectrums to build "space domain awareness" or what the Pentagon calls "the bedrock of space control".

Space domain awareness encompasses space weather monitoring, intelligence gathering but also targeting and battle damage assessment, it said.

The Commander of US Space Command, General Stephen Whiting, said last month the aim was unrestricted freedom of manoeuver in space for the US and its allies.

"The ultimate objective is space superiority," he told the same conference Golf spoke at about Iran.

Another of JCO's jobs was to "predict adversary behaviour", and the network recently expanded not just into electromagnetics but tactical surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking, its reports showed.

Again, the NZDF has denied Auckland was part of that expansion.

"Any expansion requires the appropriate permissions" from government, it said.

That has not prevented the NZDF training JCO operators in Japan as part of the Pacific cell.

The US has been stressing 2026 as the Year of Integration in space.

Whiting last month took up the theme. There was an "urgent need to integrate allied and commercial capabilities, deepen partnerships with industry for space domain awareness, and harness AI and machine learning to outpace adversaries in closing surveillance gaps".

The US and allies had to predict adversarial satellite manoeuvers and detect anomalous behaviors that signalled potential threats.

"We're slashing detection times dramatically, from minutes to seconds in some cases."

Musk's sensors added

Recently, the JCO network added Elon Musk's thousands of Starlink satellites to its commercial sources.

This had led to a "significant increase in successful tracking" of Chinese and Russian launches, said a report by Golf in April.

More broadly, the US recently confirmed a widely known fact that it had put weapons in space. This came six years after it began working on its first official "war plan" for space under Space Command.

Whiting in March told the US House Armed Services Committee the country must accelerate faced with "China's space-enabled kill chains, Russia's pursuit of an on-orbit nuclear

anti-satellite ... weapon, and the proliferation of advanced ballistic, cruise, and hypersonic missiles".

"Armed conflict in space is not inevitable, and USSPACECOM remains committed to preserving space as a domain for peaceful exploration, economic growth, and expanded human reach.

"Should deterrence fail, however, the integrated space power of our team will provide a decisive advantage in any conflict," he said.