BBC reports that Russia is targeting British military satellites every week. UK Space Command chief Maj Gen Paul Tedman says Russian satellites are flying close to UK systems to spy on them, while ground-based jamming attacks have become routine since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He also noted that Russia and China have developed anti-satellite weapons and lasers.

Russia’s interference with UK satellites

According to Tedman, Russian satellites have been flying “relatively close” to UK military satellites.

“They’ve got payloads on board that can see our satellites and are trying to collect information from them,” he explained.

He confirmed Moscow is jamming British satellites with ground-based systems “on a reasonably persistent basis.” When asked how often, he replied: “weekly.”

Anti-satellite weapons and nuclear threats

Speaking to BBC at RAF Fylingdales air force base in North Yorkshire, Tedman said both Russia and China have tested anti-satellite weapons. He added that Britain and the US believe Russia is developing the capability to deploy nuclear weapons in orbit.

“I would say the Chinese have by far the more sophisticated capability, but the Russians have more will to use their counter-space systems,” he said.

He also noted growing congestion in orbit. There are about 45,000 objects circling Earth, including 9,000 satellites. Another 300 rocket launches are expected this year.

Daily missile alerts

While BBC’s crew was at Fylingdales, a live missile alert forced them to leave the operations room. Staff had detected a ballistic missile launch. They did not say where it came from, but Russia continues to fire short-range ballistic missiles into Ukraine.

In 2024 more than 4,000 missiles were launched globally. Fylingdales was built during the Cold War to track Soviet missile threats. Tedman said that threat remains.