Formation of active space squadron

The Royal Air Force has launched No. III Space Effects Squadron to conduct electronic warfare against adversarial threats in orbit. Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth presented the unit at the two-day Space Power conference in London, which opened on 23 September 2026. Smyth told the Press Association that orbital operations have become a direct domain of warfare, requiring dedicated military assets for national defence. The new formation is the first British military unit designed specifically to take active countermeasures against hostile spacecraft, contrasting with two earlier squadrons established in 2023 that were restricted to monitoring space objects and issuing threat alerts.

The Ministry of Defence outlined that the squadron will use advanced technology to disrupt, degrade, and deny adversary activities in space. Personnel assigned to the unit will protect critical military satellites responsible for missile attack warnings, secure communications, and naval vessel navigation. The unit is also tasked with defending satellite networks relied upon by civilian emergency services, including police forces, ambulance crews, and fire brigades during rescue operations.

Ground-based jamming of foreign satellites

British defence officials also disclosed that the armed forces have operated a terrestrial satellite jamming system over the past year. The ground-based electronic warfare asset has been used to block hostile reconnaissance satellites from tracking sensitive British military operations. Specific operations protected by the jamming system include covert deployments by special forces and the patrol movements of the Royal Navy nuclear-armed ballistic missile submarine fleet.

The operational disclosure follows repeated counter-space operations by foreign militaries against British assets. In 2025, the head of UK Space Command, Paul Tedman, reported that Russian ground stations attempted to jam British military satellites on a weekly basis. US defence officials have previously accused Russia and China of developing counter-space systems ranging from ground-based electronic jammers and optical blinding lasers to kinetic projectiles fired directly from satellites in orbit.

Economic exposure and orbital strategy

Addressing attendees in London, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting stated that modern civilian life has become vulnerable to disruptions in orbital infrastructure. Streeting noted that space-based systems enable critical daily services, including energy grid synchronization, weather forecasting, financial transactions, mobile communications, and retail logistics. Ministry calculations show that a total loss of satellite navigation would cost the UK economy £1.4 billion per day.

“Our dependency on space is precisely why it is increasingly under threat from our adversaries.”

Streeting added that challenges in space mirror terrestrial geopolitics, with threats growing in scale, speed, and technical sophistication. In his address, he noted that maritime dominance defined deterrence in the nineteenth century and air power defined the twentieth century, while security in the twenty-first century will depend on space capabilities. The creation of the squadron aligns with the national space strategy, which commits £7.8 billion (roughly $10.4 billion) in defence and sector investment through 2030. The British deployment follows an announcement by the United States confirming the placement of a weapon in orbit, which prompted China and Russia to call for space demilitarisation.