Satellite constellations are playing an increasingly central role in military operations. They provide vital services—communications, observation, navigation, synchronization—on which the effectiveness of the forces depends. Space is no longer a mere technical backdrop: it has become a critical infrastructure, indispensable for decision-making and action. This evolution takes place in a contested environment, where state, industrial, and commercial interests intersect. Growing dependence on orbital services increases exposure to risks (debris, jamming, cyberattacks). The management of constellations therefore goes beyond technology to become a matter of organization, sovereignty, and cooperation.

Historically, armed forces have relied on centralized hierarchical models, guarantors of discipline and responsiveness, as shown by Henry Mintzberg (Structures in Fives, 1983). Yet the expansion of interdependencies requires new forms of coordination that can complement hierarchy. The strategic context, described by the acronym VUCA (Volatility, Uncertainty, Complexity, Ambiguity) and popularized by management scholars Nathan Bennett and James Lemoine (Harvard Business Review, 2014), illustrates the difficulty of anticipating fast-moving and unstable dynamics. French doctrine, notably the Strategic Vision of the Chief of the Defence Staff (Burkhard, 2021), stresses the need for agility and coalition action. Since the continuity of military effects increasingly depends on multiple actors, purely centralized control reaches its limits. The work of American political scientist and Nobel laureate Elinor Ostrom (Governing the Commons, 1990) provides a framework for thinking about polycentric governance, capable of managing shared resources without diluting authority.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is at the heart of this reconfiguration. It does more than enhance data exploitation: it enables the constellation itself by orchestrating inter-satellite links and optimizing orbital resources. Without these capacities, satellites would remain isolated. This articulation between technical architecture and organizational design raises questions of trust and acceptability. In sum, the centrality of constellations, their reliance on AI, and the density of their interdependencies pose a key organizational question: how to combine the solidity of command with more flexible mechanisms of coordination? It is this tension, and the hybrid configurations it implies, that this article seeks to explore.