Russia is “persistently” trying to jam UK military satellites, the head of the UK Space Command said on Friday as he warned of Russia’s hostile activities in space.
In a conversation with the BBC, Major General Paul Tedman said that Russian forces are trying to disrupt UK space-based military activities “weekly” whilst closely surveilling the country’s assets.
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“We’re seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis,” he said.
“They’re interested in what we’re doing and are flying relatively close,” Tedman added, warning: “They’ve got payloads on board that can see our satellites and are trying to collect information from them.”
Instances of attempted satellite jamming and other interference have escalated since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he said.
Russia operates more than one hundred dedicated military satellites in orbit to Britain’s half-dozen, which provide communications and surveillance.
The combined Russian and Chinese fleet of satellites has expanded by 70% over the past decade.
US analysts have previously cautioned that Moscow could be developing a nuclear anti-satellite weapons programme capable of destroying entire satellite networks, including SpaceX’s Starlink, which is used by Ukrainian troops.
In May 2024, reports surfaced that Russia had launched a satellite into space in February 2022 designed to test components for such a potential anti-satellite weapon capable of carrying a nuclear weapon.
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In the same month, the Pentagon said that Russia had launched a likely space weapon and deployed it in the same orbit as a US government satellite.
In later comments given to The Telegraph about the alleged plans, the Major General said: “We’re seeing all those things for real. They’re no longer science fiction. We as a nation need to understand that and be prepared to deal with it.”
Maj Gen Tedman noted that the US regards China as a larger threat than Russia, but argued that Russia poses 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 counterspace systems,” he explained to the BBC.
It came after German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius issued a similar warning last month, saying that Russia’s behaviour, “especially in space, poses a fundamental threat to us” as he revealed that Moscow had been stalking satellites used by the German military.
“Russia and China have expanded their capacities for warfare in space rapidly over the past years: They can disrupt satellite operations, blind satellites, manipulate or kinetically destroy them,” Pistorius warned at the time.
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