Britain’s next war is “highly likely” to begin in space, a top military commander has said.

Major General Paul Tedman, head of UK Space Command (UKSC), said that the “space domain” will become increasingly important in the coming years, and called for more investment to protect the country from extraterrestrial threats.

Space is one of the fastest-growing areas of military development, and was dominated by Russia in the lead-up to its invasion of Ukraine, when the Kremlin hacked Ukrainian satellites.

Foreign powers now look to control the space above the air domain before launching fighter jets, and both the UK and US are developing weapons that could be used in space.

Maj Gen Tedman said Britain must be more wary of threats to its satellites, and invest more in a domestic space capability.

Asked by the political magazine The House whether the next war would begin in space, he said: “It’s highly likely. You need to be able to control the space domain in order to secure the air domain, and that will provide you freedom of manoeuvre in the land and the maritime domain.

“Then if you agree with that assertion, then the logic would point to that you need to secure the space domain before you can do anything.”