Key facts
- The UK military has been jamming satellites from other nations for the past year to defend against hostile threats.
- The RAF's ground-based system is intended to deter adversaries and prevent tracking of sensitive military operations.
- The new RAF Space Effects Squadron will focus on disrupting, degrading, and denying hostile threats in space.
- Loss of GPS would cost the UK economy £1.4bn a day, according to the Defence Secretary.
- The US confirmed it deployed an unspecified weapon in space to defend its satellites.
- Russia has been accused of developing space weapons, including electronic jammers and projectiles.
The British military has been employing a ground-based system for the past year to jam satellites from other nations as a defensive measure against hostile threats, the BBC has learned. A defense source indicated the system has already been used to deter adversaries, potentially preventing hostile satellites from monitoring sensitive military operations such as the movement of nuclear submarines or special forces activities.
This development coincides with the head of the Royal Air Force (RAF) highlighting "unprecedented threats" from space adversaries and the establishment of a new RAF unit, the Space Effects Squadron, tasked with defending Britain's satellites by disrupting, degrading, and denying hostile actions.
Defence Secretary Wes Streeting emphasized the UK's critical daily reliance on satellites for essential services like GPS, mobile phones, and financial transactions, warning that their loss would cost the UK economy £1.4 billion per day and undermine freedoms. He noted that threats in space are escalating in scale, speed, and sophistication, mirroring geopolitical tensions on Earth.
Several nations are believed to possess similar anti-satellite jamming capabilities. Last year, the then head of UK's Space Command stated Russia was attempting to jam UK satellites weekly. The UK's terrestrial electronic warfare capability is described as "world leading." The US recently confirmed its own deployment of an unspecified space weapon for satellite defense, a move condemned by China and Russia as potentially sparking an arms race. However, the US has accused both Russia and China of developing their own space weapons.
Air Chief Marshal Sir Harvey Smyth, head of the RAF, has spoken about an increase in "irresponsible and provocative actions" from adversaries. In May, the RAF tracked "dangerous manoeuvres" by Russian satellites near Finnish commercial satellites, and in June, a Russian satellite constellation was reported to have disrupted GPS signals across Europe and Canada.