Is Britain ready for conflict in space? | The Economist

Deterrence in space. actually works. in a slightly different way. than it might do. in the terrestrial domains. Because if you take an action. in space that is, kinetic, as we would say in the military, but if you try. to destroy a satellite. that has. potentially really profound. implications to your own assets. in space, so... The debris could cause. entire constellations. to be unusable for years. or even decades. Exactly right and. what the US doctrine. talks about is how. you have to manage. the competition in space.

And so it’s quite. a sophisticated. and different way. of thinking about deterrence. From our perspective. in the UK, we set this out clearly. in the Strategic. Defence Review. is that space control. is fundamental. to our ability. to secure the way. of life on Earth, but also to secure our ability. to have access to space. and space-based capabilities. in order to defend ourselves. and deter our adversaries. And so that's why the SDR. talked about space control. Was that a deliberate choice.

to talk more openly. about offensive. capabilities in space? And is that really what. is that what we mean here? It was a deliberate choice, and it reflected. what we were seeing in terms. of a threat from Russian actions. and Chinese actions in space. We've seen. over the last few years. what the Chief of the Air Staff. described as unsafe. and unprofessional acts. by Russia in space. as they manoeuvre. satellites close to ours. or our allies’. And so it was a real recognition.

that the debate needed to move. to a point where. we recognised that. our way of life. and our way of war. relies on space, and therefore we need to. defend it, and we need. to be able to. exert some control over that. But as I've described. the deterrence in space. and your ability to do. that is complex. and is challenging. And ultimately what we need to do. is compete and know. what's going on up there. The principal priority. is space awareness, space domain awareness.

And what you heard is. a manifestation of the. Space Crown. and the Royal Air Force. establishing the capability. to provide some. aspects of control. of our own assets. and other assets in space.