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Credit: RAF<\/p>\n Credit: RAF<\/p>\n
The United Kingdom has established a new specialised unit within the Royal Air Force to counter hostile threats to the country\u2019s satellites.<\/p>\n
The Ministry of Defence announced the formation of No. III Space Effects Squadron on 23 September, describing it as the UK\u2019s first unit dedicated to \u201cdisrupting, degrade, and deny hostile threats in space.\u201d The new unit is part of the RAF\u2019s broader plans to build out capabilities for what Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth described as \u201corbital warfare\u201d during his keynote address at the UK Space Power Conference.<\/p>\n
\u201cTo help our nation fulfil the control of space requirement, UK defence is now developing capabilities for orbital warfare,\u201d Smyth said.<\/p>\n
According to Smyth, No. III Space Effects Squadron will be staffed by specialist personnel from across the British armed forces and will support both offensive and defensive space operations. He explained that this would include electronic warfare and capabilities to counter anti-satellite weapons.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese capabilities will help us to deter threats, defend our critical space infrastructure and reduce an adversary\u2019s freedom to operate against the UK and against our allies.\u201d Exactly what systems No. III Space Effects Squadron will operate remains unclear.<\/p>\n
European Spaceflight asked the Ministry of Defence whether No. III Space Effects Squadron would operate the UK\u2019s existing ground-based satellite-jamming capability and whether it could provide additional details about the \u201corbital warfare\u201d capabilities Smyth said were under development. In both cases, a Ministry of Defence spokesperson declined to share any information, saying it was classified.<\/p>\n
Three More Space Squadrons Planned<\/p>\n
The RAF already operates No. I Space Operations Squadron as part of the National Space Operations Centre and No. II Space Warning Squadron, which conducts operations from RAF Fylingdales. The addition of No. III Space Effects Squadron is part of a significantly larger expansion of the RAF\u2019s military space organisation.<\/p>\n
During his speech, Smyth revealed that the service is now planning Space Squadrons 4, 5 and 6.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd we are planning more,\u201d Smyth said. \u201cNumbers 4, 5 and 6 Squadrons, including a Space Tactics and Training Squadron, and squadrons which will deliver the deep space advanced radar capability. And a Space Defence function working as part of the newly established Integrated Air, Space and Missile Defence Operations Centre.\u201d<\/p>\n
This wider expansion comes as the UK is increasing its spending on military space capabilities. The government has committed \u00a3880 million between 2026\/27 and 2029\/30 to space-based intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance and space control activities.<\/p>\n
As these new squadrons take shape and the budget expands, the Ministry of Defence\u2019s stance appears to be that these capabilities are necessary. Smyth nevertheless emphasised that the development of counterspace capabilities is intended primarily as a deterrent.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo one wants a war in space,\u201d he said. \u201cWe are positioning to deter this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Credit: RAF The United Kingdom has established a new specialised unit within the Royal Air Force to counter…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":785379,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[59,57,58,50,56,75444,54,55],"class_list":["post-785378","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-united-kingdom","tag-gb","tag-great-britain","tag-greatbritain","tag-news","tag-uk","tag-uk-space-command","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785378","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=785378"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/785378\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/785379"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=785378"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=785378"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=785378"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}