US Space Command Gags NZDF on Auckland Space-Watching Hub's Role in Iran War Operations

On Tuesday, the New Zealand Defence Force sent RNZ a short reply to a request for records about a facility in Auckland. It had received advice from US Space Command, it said, and that advice did not change its earlier decision. The records would not be released. The NZDF added a suggestion: RNZ might try the US Freedom of Information Act instead of New Zealand's Official Information Act.

The facility is one of three global hubs in the Joint Commercial Operations network, known as the JCO, which is funded by the Pentagon. Auckland coordinates the Pacific third of the globe. The other two hubs are in Britain and the United States. The JCO is the Pentagon's biggest collector of monitoring data on commercial rockets, satellites and debris in space, and the network has now played a direct role supporting combat operations in the Iran war.

That comes from the head of the JCO, Barbara Golf, who spoke last month at a tech surveillance conference in Hawaii. She said US Central Command asked the Space Force to broaden its monitoring of electromagnetic spectrums after President Donald Trump ordered the start of Operation Epic Fury on 28 February. The request, in her account, was for more monitoring in every band that could be found, and the JCO delivered it that spring. She called it a very rapid expansion. The network used it to detect sources of electronic attack on US systems, such as Iranian jammers that could disrupt drones. Over the next year, she said, the intention is to extend this to all six ground combatant commands, one of which is US Indo-Pacific Command. She expects it to become one of the network's most important capabilities. Electromagnetic operations were added to the JCO only two years ago, and an early job was helping protect the Paris Olympics.

Whether Auckland took part in the Iran operations is unclear. RNZ asked the NZDF and it did not say. The conflict is geographically closer to the Britain-based hub. Last year the NZDF denied the Auckland hub had expanded into electromagnetics, saying its own involvement had not grown beyond what Cabinet approved. RNZ has asked again whether that has changed more recently. The NZDF has also denied that Auckland was part of the JCO's recent expansion into tactical surveillance, reconnaissance and tracking, noting that any expansion needs government permission. It has nonetheless been training JCO operators in Japan as part of the Pacific cell.

Some records have already come out. In August, RNZ reported on 24 pages of notices the Auckland hub issued in February 2026, covering just a few days, which had been released under the OIA to another requester. They showed the hub coordinated tracking of a Russian launch of two Iranian satellites, one for weather and one for TV broadcasting. The notice described the launch as a significant milestone for Iran's space program and for Russian-Iranian cooperation. A Chinese military satellite was also tracked. The NZDF said it had received authorisation to release those three redacted documents.

RNZ then asked for more: notices from March to September, and the last two years of activity reports. The NZDF refused, saying it does not have the authority to unilaterally release JCO documentation. When asked to check again with US Space Command, it came back saying the position had not changed. RNZ approached US Space Command directly. The command passed the request on internally and has not commented on why the release was blocked.

The Pentagon created the JCO in 2020, mainly to bring commercial data worth about $50 million a year into US Space Command and feed it to combatant commands, as well as to hundreds of agencies and governments. Because the analysis can remain unclassified, it is easier to share with allies. When the US invited New Zealand in 2023 to host the Pacific cell, it called the work a "Protect and Defend" mission, and New Zealand stressed space safety and security. The cost to New Zealand has been little beyond a few staff, as the US pays for everything, including sensor data. A 2023 Cabinet minute said the JCO may evolve in purpose and technology. The NZDF says its role centres on awareness, information sharing and cooperation with partners, and that it retains sovereignty over the hub.

The Pentagon's own language is broader. It calls space domain awareness the bedrock of space control, covering space weather, intelligence, targeting and battle damage assessment. General Stephen Whiting, commander of US Space Command, told the same conference the ultimate objective is space superiority. In March he told the House Armed Services Committee that armed conflict in space is not inevitable, but that if deterrence fails, integrated space power would give a decisive advantage. The US has called 2026 the Year of Integration in space.

What to watch: whether a US Freedom of Information request succeeds, whether the NZDF answers RNZ's question about recent expansion, and whether the New Zealand government is asked to approve any widening of Auckland's role.