The RAF has been jamming other countries’ satellites for a year

According to a BBC report, the British military has been jamming or blocking satellites from other countries to defend itself against hostile threats. Over the last year, the RAF has been using a ground-based system to “deter our adversaries.” The UK has described its terrestrial electronic warfare capability as “world-leading, and more”.

The ground-based system could be used to prevent a hostile nation’s satellites from tracking the movement of the Royal Navy’s Vanguard-class nuclear missile submarines or other sensitive military operations (e.g., special forces).

Yesterday, Chief of the Air Staff, Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, delivered the opening keynote of the UK Space Power Conference where he said, “So make no mistake, the satellite services you may have taken for granted now face unprecedented threats.”

Meanwhile, on Wednesday, Defence Secretary Wes Streeting stated that the loss of GPS would cost the British economy £1.4bn a day, noting how dependent the country is on it. He said, “Our dependency on space is precisely why it is increasingly under threat from our adversaries.”

RAF set up the new Space Effects Squadron

The RAF has set up the new Space Effects Squadron to defend the UK’s satellites. Smyth said, “Space is no longer just simply supporting air power from the sidelines. It is completely embedded within it. It is essential. It’s actually part of the DNA, and you don’t have to scratch too far to see that.”

The new squadron will focus on “disrupting, degrading, and denying hostile threats in space.” It will protect British satellites and warn of incoming attacks as well as provide communications and help guide ships.

This comes soon after the US confirmed for the first time that it has an unspecified weapon deployed in space to protect its interests there.

The MoD noted that Britain’s adversaries’ threats are growing in “scale, speed, and sophistication,” and that “challenges in space increasingly mirror the geopolitics on Earth.”

While the adversaries were not named, Britain is increasingly fighting a hybrid war with Russia, while China’s space capabilities are rapidly growing. The US has already said that Russia and China are both developing their own space weapons.

Russia jamming British military satellites ‘weekly’ in 2025

In October 2025, Maj Gen Paul Tedman told the BBC that Russian satellites have been stalking British military satellites. Tedman explained that Russia has been trying to jam British military satellites with ground-based systems “every week.”

He elaborated, “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.”

The UK is not alone in these claims. In September 2025, Germany’s Defence Minister, Boris Pistorius, said that German satellites were being shadowed by the Russian military.

While UK military satellites have been equipped with counter-jamming technologies, they were still being jammed by the Russians. The activity has increased since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The UK has around half a dozen military satellites.