Russia is attempting to jam UK military satellites on a regular basis, according to the head of UK Space Command.<\/p>\n
Speaking to the BBC, Major General Paul Tedman said Russian forces are actively trying to disrupt UK-based military activities \u201cweekly\u201d and are closely monitoring the country\u2019s space assets.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The UK operates approximately six dedicated military satellites for communications and surveillance, which Maj Gen Tedman said were equipped with counter-jamming technology.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cThey\u2019ve got payloads on board that can see our satellites and are trying to collect information from them.\u201d<\/p>\n
The threat of space-based interference is not limited to the UK.<\/p>\n
In September, German defence minister Boris Pistorius revealed that Russia had been tracking two Intelsat satellites used by the German military.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can jam, blind, manipulate, or kinetically disrupt satellites,\u201d he said at a space conference in Berlin.<\/p>\n
In response to growing international tensions, the United Kingdom and the United States conducted their first co-ordinated satellite manoeuvre in space last month, in what defence officials hailed as a major step forward in allied cooperation.<\/p>\n
Between September 4 and 12, a US satellite was repositioned in orbit to inspect a UK satellite and confirm it was functioning properly.<\/p>\n
The test was part of Operation Olympic Defender, a joint military framework aimed at improving satellite defence and resilience.<\/p>\n
\u201cExpertly executed with US Space Command, I could not be more pleased or proud of the rapid progress we are making with our allies,\u201d Maj Gen Tedman said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are now, with our allies, conducting advanced orbital operations to protect and defend our shared national and military interests in space.\u201d<\/p>\n
The escalation in space comes as tensions with Russia continue to rise.<\/p>\n
Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper last week warned that Britain is \u201cready to act\u201d after US President Donald Trump publicly urged Nato allies to shoot down intruding Russian aircraft.<\/p>\n
In a speech to the United Nations in September, Ms Cooper condemned Moscow\u2019s \u201cprovocative and reckless\u201d violations of Nato airspace in recent weeks, including incidents over Estonia, Poland, and Romania.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Russia is attempting to jam UK military satellites on a regular basis, according to the head of UK…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":470508,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,156684,156685,156683,1144,332,712,148092,16,15,1764],"class_list":{"0":"post-470507","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-intelsat-satellites","13":"tag-maj-gen-tedman","14":"tag-military-satellites","15":"tag-northern-ireland","16":"tag-russia","17":"tag-scotland","18":"tag-space-command","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom","21":"tag-wales"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470507","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=470507"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/470507\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/470508"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=470507"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=470507"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=470507"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}