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Russian satellites have been stalking British military satellites, according to the head of the UK Space Command.
In an interview with the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman has for the first time set out the level of interference from Moscow against the UK’s space-based assets.
He said Russia had also been trying to jam the UK’s military satellites with ground-based systems every week.
Last month Germany’s Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, said Russia had been shadowing satellites used by their military.
Gen Tedman gave details of how Russia was doing the same to the UK. “They’re interested in what we’re doing and flying relatively close,” he said.
“They’ve got payloads on board that can see our satellites and are trying to collect information from them.”
Gen Tedman said UK military satellites had been fitted with counter-jamming technologies but added: “We’re seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis.”
When asked how often, he replied “weekly”. It was, he said, deliberate and the activity had increased since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Britain has half a dozen dedicated military satellites in orbit providing communications and surveillance.
In contrast, the US, China and Russia each have more than a hundred. The combined Russian and Chinese fleet of satellites has increased by 70% over the past decade.
Gen Tedman said Russia and China had both tested anti-satellite weapons. Both the UK and the US have warned that Russia has been developing the capability to put nuclear weapons in space.
While the US sees China as the pacing threat, Gen Tedman sees Russia as the more immediate danger: “I would say the Chinese have by far the more sophisticated capability but the Russians have more will to use their counter-space systems.”
Gen Tedman said he was “really worried” about what was happening in space – not just the threats but the increasing congestion. There are currently about 45,000 objects in orbit including around 9,000 satellites. This year will see another 300 rocket launches into space.
BBC News
