Published by Global Banking & Finance Review®
Posted on October 3, 2025
2 min readLast updated: January 21, 2026
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The UK is enhancing its satellite defense capabilities with a £500,000 investment to counter space threats, focusing on sensors to protect against lasers and improve military communications.
By Cassell Bryan-Low
LONDON -Britain is building sensors to counter lasers that adversaries might use to blind satellites or intercept and interrupt communications, the UK government said on Friday.
The government said it will spend about £500,000 ($672,750) on the project, which involves UK Space Command and the UK Space Agency.
A UK-government commissioned security review published this summer said Britain urgently needs to bolster defences for military space systems as adversaries improve their own abilities to attack in space.
The Strategic Defence Review called for Britain to invest in its own space attack capabilities, along with intelligence and navigation networks as well as satellite communications.
Militaries depend on satellites for communication, surveillance, and guidance data for troops, warships and weapons. Without their space assets, Western militaries “can't effectively understand, move, communicate, and fight,” General Paul Tedman, head of UK Space Command, said on Wednesday during a visit to the RAF Fylingdales radar station.
European and other Western military space officials are warning about increasing hostile activity in space that could disrupt the operations of ground and sea forces.
“You’ve got to be able to protect your systems in space,” Tedman said at RAF Fylingdales, which provides missile warning and space surveillance to the United States and Britain.
While the U.S. dominates government spending on space globally, France and Germany were Europe’s two largest spenders on space last year, according to France-based consulting firm Novaspace.
Last week, Germany’s defence minister warned about a growing threat posed by Russia and announced Berlin would invest 35 billion euros ($41.09 billion) over the next five years on space security.
France’s space-related initiatives include leading a 1.5-billion euro investment in Eutelsat, a French rival to Elon Musk’s Starlink satellite communications service.
(Reporting by Cassell Bryan-Low; Editing by Sergio Non)
Satellite defense refers to measures taken to protect satellites from threats such as attacks or interference, ensuring their operational integrity and the security of the data they transmit.
Space security involves protecting space assets, including satellites and space infrastructure, from threats such as physical attacks, cyber threats, and natural hazards.
A military space system includes satellites and other space-based assets used for military purposes, such as communication, surveillance, and navigation.
Space threats include any potential dangers to space assets, such as hostile actions from other nations, space debris, and cyber attacks targeting satellite systems.
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