UK has been jamming other nations' satellites for a year, source tells BBC

The RAF has already been using a ground-based system to jam other nations’ satellites for the past year, a source has told the BBC, in the first public confirmation of an offensive British space capability.

The disclosure emerged as the Ministry of Defence announced the RAF’s new No III Space Effects Squadron, unveiled by Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth at the UK Space Power Conference in London on Wednesday.

The unit is Britain’s first dedicated to “disrupting, degrading, and denying” hostile activity targeting British interests in space, the MoD said, and will “act against those threats, using advanced technology, including electronic warfare”.

In an interview with The Times, Sir Harv said Britain’s capabilities were “non-kinetic” and centred on electronic warfare, including “pre-emptive jamming to stop enemy satellites crashing into UK ones”.

The squadron joins two space units created in 2023 that watch and warn of threats in orbit. Its launch follows the US last week becoming the first country to announce it had deployed weapons in orbit, prompting China to warn against turning space into a “battlefield”.

Last year the head of UK Space Command, Maj Gen Paul Tedman, told the BBC Russia was jamming British military satellites on a “weekly” basis.

Sources

• The Times — “RAF creates space squadron to protect life on earth”
• AFP via Phys.org — “UK to launch new military space squadron to protect satellites”
• Dawn / Dhaka Tribune — “UK military air chief warns space now ‘warfighting’ frontier”
• BBC News (via wire lead) — “UK military jamming other nation’s satellites to defend itself, BBC told”