Bipartisan Senators Introduce Bill to Boost Quad Countries’ Space Cooperation

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Jun 10, 2025 - 10:05 Updated: Jun 10, 2025 - 09:55
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Bipartisan Senators Introduce Bill to Boost Quad Countries’ Space Cooperation

A bipartisan group of senators has introduced legislation aimed at strengthening space cooperation among Australia, India, Japan, and the United States to confront challenges posed by Russia and China.

Sen. Michael Bennet (D-Colo.), a member of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence, and Sen. Kevin Cramer (R-N.D.), who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, announced on June 5 that they have a bill, S 1946, to bolster space cooperation among the four Quad (Quadrilateral Security Dialogue) member countries.

“As China and Russia rapidly develop dangerous space capabilities and behave recklessly in space, the United States must bolster cooperation with our Quad partners to ensure a free and open Indo-Pacific,” Bennet said in a statement.

“The Quad Space Act will enhance our collective capacity to address shared challenges by better ensuring safe and secure space missions, tracking objects and activities in space, and fostering shared innovation.”

If enacted, the legislation would require the U.S. secretary of defense to hold talks with the other Quad governments to identify areas of shared interests in terms of best practices in space, space situational awareness, and space industrial policy.

The legislation would also require the defense secretary to submit a report to the armed services committees in the House and the Senate. The report should detail potential areas of cooperation and potential steps to formalize such cooperation.

“Maintaining space dominance is vital to protecting the stability and prosperity of the Indo-Pacific region,” Cramer said in a statement. “The Quad’s alignment addresses shared security challenges between our countries, and we recognize the importance of space as a strategic domain.

“The Quad Space Act protects our interests by deepening space cooperation with trusted partners and reaffirming our commitment to advancing a free and open region.”

In recent years, the Quad has taken on a more prominent role in countering communist China’s growing influence in the Indo-Pacific. The group has challenged China’s territorial assertions in the South China Sea and committed to strengthening cybersecurity cooperation to protect critical infrastructure and supply chains.
In September 2021, the Quad announced the establishment of a space cooperation working group, following a meeting of the four countries’ heads of state. Under the new agreement, the four nations agreed to share satellite data, work together to enhance space applications and technologies, and consult on guidelines for the long-term sustainability of the outer space environment.
In May 2023, the Quad furthered its members’ space cooperation by agreeing to work together on commercial space activities, as well as space situational awareness and space traffic capabilities.
The Trump administration’s commitment to the Quad was underscored by Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s January meeting with his counterparts from Australia, India, and Japan. The meeting reaffirmed the four countries’ commitment to a free and open Indo-Pacific “where the rule of law, democratic values, sovereignty, and territorial integrity are upheld and defended.”
Gen. Chance Saltzman, chief of space operations for the U.S. Space Force, warned in April during a congressional hearing that China’s ambitions in space pose a “powerful destabilizing force” to the U.S. economy and national security.

“Space has become a warfighting domain,” Saltzman said at the time. “Over the last two decades, our competitors, China in particular, have invested heavily in counter-space threats, kinetic and non-kinetic weapons that can deny, degrade, or destroy our satellites.”

China is also practicing “dogfighting in space,” Saltzman added, saying his service has seen Chinese experimental satellites conducting “unusual, large, and rapid maneuvers” in geostationary orbit in recent years. Based on the observation, Saltzman said Beijing “is resolved to contest [U.S.] spacepower through combat operations.”

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