Meanwhile, UK Space Command and UK Space Agency announced a new project to detect lasers being used against British satellites.
Russia is trying to jam British military satellites on a “weekly” basis, the head of the United Kingdom’s Space Command, Maj. Gen. Paul Tedman, has said.
Speaking to the BBC, Tedman also said Russia has been shadowing British military satellites, saying, “They’re interested in what we’re doing and flying relatively close.”
“They’ve got payloads on board that can see our satellites and are trying to collect information from them,” he said in the interview published on Oct. 3.
This echoes claims made by German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, who last month said that Russia had been tracking two Intelsat satellites used by German forces.
Pistorius said during a space conference in Berlin on Sept. 25, “Russia and China have expanded their capabilities for warfare in space rapidly over the past years: They can disrupt satellite operations, blind satellites, manipulate or kinetically destroy them.”
Tedman said that British satellites were equipped with anti-jamming technology, but “we’re seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis.”
When pressed on how frequently, he responded “weekly.”
On which poses the greatest danger to Britain’s military space assets, Tedman said, “I would say the Chinese have by far the more sophisticated capability, but the Russians have more will to use their counter-space systems.”
The Epoch Times contacted the Russian government for comment, but did not receive a response by the time of publication.
Laser Detection
The interview was published the same day that UK Space Command and UK Space Agency announced a new project to detect lasers being used against British satellites.
On Oct. 3, the British Ministry of Defence (MOD) said that the project will help protect satellites that are being used across civilian and military applications, including bank transfers, emergency services, and intelligence operations.
Lasers can be used to track the location of satellites and dazzle them, as well as intercept and interrupt communications.
In the government press release, Tedman said that the recent Strategic Defence Review—which assessed the UK’s defense policy and examined how to develop the British military’s readiness for evolving threats—has highlighted that space should be raised to parity with other domains of war.
The major general said that space “does not just accessorise our way of war, in many respects it is changing it fundamentally. It also made clear that threats to our national interests in space are increasing.”
