The wars in Ukraine and Iran are not just being fought on the ground - they are being fought from orbit. Satellites now provide the targeting data that allows drones and long-range missiles to strike with precision across hundreds of miles, fundamentally changing how nations wage war.

As "Hvylya" reports, George Friedman, the chairman of Geopolitical Futures, laid out this argument in the latest episode of Talking Geopolitics. According to Friedman, the field even has its own name. "It is called astropolitics," he said. "Right now space is one of the main arenas of warfare. It is something that is influencing wars on Earth."

Friedman pointed to how satellite intelligence has reshaped the battlefield. Sensors in orbit can now identify individual vehicles and troop formations, then transmit that data directly to weapons systems on the ground. "The sensors on satellites are so good that they can read a license plate from outer space," he said. "If they can transmit that information to troops on the ground, these troops have tremendous intelligence as to what is going on."

The shift goes beyond intelligence gathering. Friedman argued that the entire logic of force projection has changed. Operations that once required boots on the ground - like clearing the Straits of Hormuz - can now be conducted from hundreds of miles away using satellite-guided drones. "Opening the Straits of Hormuz by landing Marines is not going to solve the problem," he said, "because hundreds of miles away there are missiles and drones being prepared that once they have a target, they can take them out in a very short period of time."

Anti-satellite warfare is already underway as well. Friedman noted that while satellites themselves have not been physically destroyed in recent conflicts, their communications have been targeted. "The Starlinks were not hurt as satellites, but the downlinks were severely affected," he said, adding that there are also "anti-satellites in orbit that are designed to either directly hit another satellite or to send some energy beams at the satellite to try to destroy it."

The implications extend far beyond any single conflict. If satellite intelligence determines who wins and loses on the ground, then control of space becomes the prerequisite for military power itself - a shift Friedman compared to the historical transition from land warfare to naval dominance.

"Hvylya" previously reported on how Ukrainian drones carved out a 30-mile zone where Russian armor cannot operate.