United Kingdom Space Command

United Kingdom Space Command (UKSC) is a joint command of the British Armed Forces organised under the Royal Air Force,^[1][2] and staffed by personnel from the Royal Navy, British Army, Royal Air Force and the Civil Service.^[3] The UKSC has three functions: space operations, space workforce generation, and space capability.^[4]

United Kingdom Space Command
UK Space Command badge
Founded	1 April 2021 (4 years)
Country	United Kingdom
Branch	Royal Navy  British Army  Royal Air Force
Role	Space Operations
Part of	Royal Air Force
Headquarters	RAF High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire
Commanders
Commander	Major General Paul Tedman

Patch

UK Space Command was established on 1 April 2021, and from May 2024 is under the command of Major General Paul Tedman. The new command has "responsibility for not just operations, but also generating, training and growing the force, and also owning the money and putting all the programmatic rigour into delivering new ... capabilities."^[1] UKSC headquarters is at RAF High Wycombe co-located with Air Command.^[5]

When fully operationally capable, UK Space Command will "provide command and control of all of Defence’s space capabilities, including [the] UK Space Operations Centre, Skynet (satellite) communications, RAF Fylingdales, and other enabling capabilities."^[3] The command was initially planned to grow to about 650 personnel.^[6]

Defence Command Paper and Space Strategy

In a March 2021 Defence Command Paper it was announced that part of the additional £1.4 billion allocated to support UK Space Command over the next decade would be used to develop a new Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (ISR) satellite capability,^[7][8] following on from the Carbonite-2 technology demonstrator launched in 2018.^[9]

History

On 22 April 2021 it was announced that Air Commodore Mark Flewin was to become Head Operations, Plans & Training, United Kingdom Space Command, Royal Air Force High Wycombe in May 2021.^[10]

As of 2021 Commodore David C. Moody (Engineering Branch, RN) was posted in as Head of Space Capability for UK Space Command.^[11]

In February 2022, the first part of the Defence Space Strategy was published, which included the already announced extra investment of £1.4 billion over 10 years mostly for the development of the multi-satellite surveillance and intelligence ISTARI system.^[12] The strategy announced that the UK would adopt an "international by design" approach, and is the first state to publicly join the U.S. led Operation Olympic Defender, enabling international sharing of space resources and the synchronisation of space efforts. The UK will strengthen relations with the Five Eyes intelligence partnership.^[13]

Operational concept demonstrator satellites for the ISTARI system, with electro-optical sensors and onboard processing, are planned for launch in 2024, under project MINERVA.^[14] The first satellite, named Tyche, launched on 16 August 2024 on a SpaceX Falcon 9.^[15]

Structure

UK Space Operations Centre badge

The structure of UK Space Command comprises:

• Headquarters, UK Space Command (RAF High Wycombe)^[16]
  • UK Space Operations Centre^[17]
    • 1 Space Operations Squadron^[18]
    • 2 Space Warning Squadron (RAF Fylingdales)^[18]
  • UK Space Academy (Defence Academy, Shrivenham)^[19]

List of commanders

No.	Commander		Term			Ref.
	Portrait	Name	Took office	Left office	Term length
1		Air Vice-Marshal Paul Godfrey	1 April 2021	12 May 2024	3 years, 266 days	[20]
2		Major General Paul Tedman	12 May 2024	Incumbent	344 days	[21]

See also

• British Army communications and reconnaissance equipment § Satellite communications
• British space programme
• Defence Intelligence Fusion Centre
• Structure of the Royal Air Force
• RAF Oakhanger in Hampshire (1001 Signals Unit RAF), satellite communications site where Skynet was directed from until commercialisation in 2003