{"id":485943,"date":"2026-03-20T14:12:17","date_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:12:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485943\/"},"modified":"2026-03-20T14:12:17","modified_gmt":"2026-03-20T14:12:17","slug":"uk-to-install-17-5m-satellite-monitoring-system-in-akrotiri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/485943\/","title":{"rendered":"UK to install \u00a317.5m satellite monitoring system in Akrotiri"},"content":{"rendered":"

According to British media, the United Kingdom will move forward with plans to install a \u00a317.5 million satellite monitoring facility in Cyprus, aimed at strengthening space surveillance and protecting critical military communications.<\/p>\n

The project, known as Noctis-2, will involve the deployment of advanced optical systems, with the possibility of an infrared telescope, enabling continuous observation of geostationary orbit.<\/p>\n

This \u201cpersistent stare capability\u201d allows for constant tracking of satellites positioned approximately 36,000 kilometres above Earth.<\/p>\n

The facility will be located in Cyprus<\/a> but operated remotely from the RAF\u2019s space operations squadron at RAF High Wycombe, with data transmitted to the UK\u2019s national space operations centre to support monitoring and analysis.<\/p>\n

British defence documents state the system is intended to address a \u201ccapability gap\u201d in space surveillance, particularly as the number of satellites<\/a> increases and operational risks become more complex.<\/p>\n

Cyprus was selected due to the presence of British military infrastructure<\/a> on the island, including RAF Akrotiri and Dhekelia, including clearer skies and proximity to the equator, which improve visibility of geostationary satellites.<\/p>\n

The system is expected to enhance protection of the UK\u2019s Skynet satellite communications network, which is used for secure military communications.<\/p>\n

Officials say the technology will improve the detection and assessment of potential threats to these assets.<\/p>\n

The Noctis-2 programme builds on the earlier Noctis-1 system developed in 2023, expanding monitoring capabilities across geostationary orbits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"According to British media, the United Kingdom will move forward with plans to install a \u00a317.5 million satellite…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":485944,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[23],"tags":[172310,10528,3612,90,416,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-485943","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-akrotiri-base","tag-cyprus-news","tag-raf","tag-science","tag-space","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485943","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485943"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485943\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/485944"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485943"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485943"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485943"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}