Space commander issues warning on Russian satellite attacks

Ethan Claridge October 9, 2025 in Cyber Security Hub, News - 3 Minutes

The leader of the Armed Forces unit dedicated to space issues has revealed that Russian craft are targeting their UK counterparts, and that Moscow has ‘the will’ to launch attacks

Russian satellites have been targeting UK military satellites on a weekly basis, according to the UK’s head of Space Command.

Speaking in an interview with the BBC, Maj Gen Paul Tedman outlined the level of interference that military satellites are facing from ground-based jamming and information-collecting systems in Russia.

“We’re seeing our satellites being jammed by the Russians on a reasonably persistent basis,” said Tedman.

The UK currently has six military satellites in space, orbiting the globe to provide communications and surveillance services to forces on the ground. This is nothing when compared to Russia or China, who both have over a hundred satellites and spend billions each year developing their capabilities. This investment has seen a growth of 70% in the last decade for both fleets.

The UK’s satellites do have anti-jamming capabilities explained Tedman, but these actions are regular, deliberate and have increased since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“They’re interested in what we’re doing and flying relatively close,” Tedman said. “They’ve got payloads on board that can see our satellites and are trying to collect information from them.”

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In the UK, about 1% of the government’s defence budget is spent on space. This is a marked difference from other countries, such as France, which spends 3% and the US which spends 5% of its defence budget on space, equating to $49bn. This is set to rise in 2026, as major investment in the Golden Dome defence system is expected.

Both Russia and China have developed sophisticated space lasers that could be used to overwhelm UK satellites, disrupting their ability to relay information back down to Earth. The government recently announced plans to test sensors that could detect this type of interference in the future, but for now the military’s satellites are being targeted in increasingly common incidents.

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

Around £450bn of the UK economy is dependent on space said Tedman, with satellite technology used to communicate globally, while also forming a crucial part of the UK’s armed forces network, providing information on everything from inter-ballistic missile launches to GPS maps of potential battlefields.

“We’ve committed to invest a billion pounds into integrated air and missile defence,” said Tedman. “I’d be surprised if there’s not a space aspect to how we’re going to defend the UK from threats.”