A new military unit dedicated to defending satellites, protecting services people need on Earth and potentially supporting offensive operations is being launched by the UK.
The No III Space Effects Squadron will be announced on Wednesday, with the defence secretary, Wes Streeting, warning that Britain needs to “keep pace in the new space race”.
“Control of the waves was the essential ingredient in 19th-century deterrence,” he will tell the Space Power conference.
“That is why Britain built the finest naval power in history. In the 20th century it was control of the skies, and so we built a world class air force to protect us. This century will depend on control of space.”
The new Royal Air Force (RAF) squadron will protect satellites used to warn of incoming missile attacks, provide communications and help guide ships, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said.
It will bring together specialist personnel from across the armed forces to counter hostile activity in orbit and defend satellites the nation depends on every day.
Two existing units – No I Space Operations Squadron and No II Space Warning Squadron – already allow the RAF to watch and warn of threats in space.
The MoD said the new squadron would act against those threats, using advanced technology, including electronic warfare, “to disrupt, degrade and deny hostile actions”.
It is intended to support offensive and defensive space operations and will expand over time as new capabilities enter service.
The chief of the air staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, will say on Wednesday: “Space no longer supports operations from the sidelines. It’s a domain of direct competition, where our military advantage can be won or lost.”
The UK has formally ruled out destructive anti-satellite missile testing and the government said on Wednesday that it continues to work through the UN committee on the peaceful uses of outer space to promote norms, rules and principles of responsible space behaviours.
Smyth and Streeting are speaking at the conference in London which being promoted by the Space Command wing of the RAF.
The moves come after warnings that other nations have been building up military capabilities in space. The UK Space Command said last year that Russia was attempting to jam UK military satellites on a regular basis.
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The US, which established the United States Space Force in 2019 as the sixth branch of the its armed forces, said earlier this month that it had deployed weapons in space for the first time.
Responding to the US announcement, China’s foreign ministry said Washington was “preparing for war in outer space”, and warned against turning space “into a battlefield, as well as an arms race there”.
The UK announcement on Wednesday comes weeks after the release of a government strategy designed to strengthen defences against threats from space.
The SaxaVord Spaceport, on the island of Unst, Shetland, at the northernmost point of the UK, is to receive a further £30m as part of the plans.
The strategy sets out funding of £7.8bn across the space sector up to 2030.
The business secretary, Jonathan Reynolds, has previously said that the UK wanted to strengthen the UK’s ability to launch satellites.
