Defence secretary Ben Wallace said it was “crucial” that Britain pushes the “frontiers of our defence space ambitions” in a bid to stay “one step ahead of our competitors”.
As part of the public investment, £968m will be committed over the next 10 years to deliver a multi-satellite system – known as the Istari programme – to support greater global surveillance and intelligence for military operations, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) announced yesterday.
A further £61m will explore cutting-edge laser communications technology to deliver data from space to Earth at a speed equivalent to superfast broadband.
The defence space strategy follows on the back of the UK's national space strategy, which was published in September.
The MoD’s document outlines how it plans to protect the UK’s national interests in space in an era of “ever-growing threats”. Recent years have seen increasing international rows over satellites, space weaponry and collisions in orbit...