英国皇家空军已组建太空预备力量，即第三太空效应中队，负责保护英国在通信和导航方面所依赖的关键卫星。空军元帅哈维·史密斯爵士在伦敦举行的首届英国太空力量会议上宣布了这一新单位的成立，并表示该单位将保障太空为英国武装力量带来的关键利益，并具备剥夺对手这些利益的能力。史密斯补充说，皇家空军位于高韦科姆的总部几周前已转型为空军与太空司令部。据英国国防部称，现有的第一太空作战中队和第二太空预警中队使皇家空军具备监视和预警太空威胁的能力，而最新成立的中队则具备针对这些威胁采取行动的能力。你可能会问，鉴于英国的发射设施有限，且据我们所知没有反卫星导弹系统，这该如何实现？我们被告知，这将通过“先进技术”来实现，包括电子战，以“干扰、削弱并阻止敌对行动”。事实上，政府表示，英国已正式排除进行破坏性反卫星导弹试验，而是继续通过联合国和平利用外层空间委员会开展工作。这意味着将使用地面干扰系统来干扰或中和任何恶意的外国卫星。我们向国防部询问了该太空部队具体能力构成的更多细节，但一位发言人表示，由于信息属于机密，无法透露更多。不过，国防部表示，该中队将支持进攻性和防御性太空行动，并随着新能力的服役而逐步扩展。国防部指出，卫星对国家安全日常生活至关重要，它们支持情报收集和导弹预警，同时提供电信和天气预报服务。
Britain’s Royal Air Force has gained some space cadets, in the form of No. III Space Effects Squadron, tasked with protecting critical satellites that the UK relies on for communications and navigation. Air Chief Marshal Sir Harvey Smyth announced the new unit at an inaugural UK Space Power Conference in London, saying it will safeguard the vital benefits that space gives to our armed forces, and be capable of denying those benefits to our adversaries. Smyth added that the RAF’s headquarters at High Wycombe transitioned to become Air and Space Command just a few weeks ago. According to the MoD, the existing No. I Space Operations Squadron and No. II Space Warning Squadron give the RAF the ability to watch and warn of threats in space, but the latest unit will have the ability to act against those threats. How, you might ask, given the UK has limited launch facilities and no anti-satellite missile systems, as far as we are aware? This will be accomplished using “advanced technology,” we are told, including electronic warfare, to “disrupt, degrade and deny hostile actions.” In fact, the government says the UK has formally ruled out destructive anti-satellite missile testing, and instead continues to work through the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. That implies the use of ground-based jamming systems to disrupt or neutralize any nefarious foreign satellites. We asked the MoD for further details on what the space force’s capabilities consist of, exactly, but a spokesperson told us there is not much more that can be said as the information is classified. However, the MoD does say the squadron will support both offensive and defensive space operations and will expand over time as new capabilities enter service. The MoD states that satellites are critical for both national security and daily life, enabling intelligence gathering and missile warnings, while also providing telecoms and weather forecasts. The emergency services rely on satellite navigation systems for emergency responses, and energy networks use the same systems to organise power grids, making use of the precise time coding in such signals to synchronise operations. Last year, The reported that the MoD was working with the UK’s Space Agency on finding ways to protect orbiting satellites with technology that can spot when lasers are being used to try and dazzle them and disrupt communications. Four countries are known to have tested anti-satellite missiles; the US, Russia, China and India. The most recent incident was when Russia destroyed one of its own defunct orbiters in 2021, endangering the International Space Station. The ISS also had to conduct manoeuvres the same year to avoid space debris created by China blowing up one of its own satellites years earlier. In 2022, the United Nations passed a US-led resolution calling on countries to commit not to conduct any similar anti-satellite missile tests. That hasn’t stopped China, for one, looking at other ways of taking out orbital assets if it considers it necessary, looking at employing lasers and high-power microwaves to disable them. The US Space Force also claimed to have observed Chinese satellites practicing “dogfight” manoeuvres in orbit. ®
紧急救援服务依赖卫星导航系统来进行应急响应；能源网络同样使用这些系统来管理电网，并利用这些信号中的精确时间编码来实现各项操作的同步。去年有报道称，英国国防部正在与英国航天局合作，研究利用相关技术来保护在轨卫星，以便及时发现是否有激光被用于干扰卫星的通信功能。目前已知有四个国家曾进行过反卫星导弹试验：美国、俄罗斯、中国和印度。最近的一次事件发生在2021年，当时俄罗斯摧毁了自己的一颗已失效的在轨卫星，这威胁到了国际空间站的安全；同年，国际空间站也不得不采取机动措施，以避免由中国之前摧毁卫星所产生的太空碎片带来的风险。2022年，联合国通过了一项由美国主导的决议，呼吁各国不得进行任何类似的反卫星导弹试验。然而，中国并未因此停止探索其他破坏在轨卫星的手段，仍在研究使用激光和高功率微波来破坏卫星功能的可能性。美国太空军还表示，他们观察到中国的卫星在轨道上进行了“编队战斗”（即协同作战）的演习。
Britain’s Royal Air Force has gained some space cadets, in the form of No. III Space Effects Squadron, tasked with protecting critical satellites that the UK relies on for communications and navigation. Air Chief Marshal Sir Harvey Smyth announced the new unit at an inaugural UK Space Power Conference in London, saying it will safeguard the vital benefits that space gives to our armed forces, and be capable of denying those benefits to our adversaries. Smyth added that the RAF’s headquarters at High Wycombe transitioned to become Air and Space Command just a few weeks ago. According to the MoD, the existing No. I Space Operations Squadron and No. II Space Warning Squadron give the RAF the ability to watch and warn of threats in space, but the latest unit will have the ability to act against those threats. How, you might ask, given the UK has limited launch facilities and no anti-satellite missile systems, as far as we are aware? This will be accomplished using “advanced technology,” we are told, including electronic warfare, to “disrupt, degrade and deny hostile actions.” In fact, the government says the UK has formally ruled out destructive anti-satellite missile testing, and instead continues to work through the UN Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space. That implies the use of ground-based jamming systems to disrupt or neutralize any nefarious foreign satellites. We asked the MoD for further details on what the space force’s capabilities consist of, exactly, but a spokesperson told us there is not much more that can be said as the information is classified. However, the MoD does say the squadron will support both offensive and defensive space operations and will expand over time as new capabilities enter service. The MoD states that satellites are critical for both national security and daily life, enabling intelligence gathering and missile warnings, while also providing telecoms and weather forecasts. The emergency services rely on satellite navigation systems for emergency responses, and energy networks use the same systems to organise power grids, making use of the precise time coding in such signals to synchronise operations. Last year, The reported that the MoD was working with the UK’s Space Agency on finding ways to protect orbiting satellites with technology that can spot when lasers are being used to try and dazzle them and disrupt communications. Four countries are known to have tested anti-satellite missiles; the US, Russia, China and India. The most recent incident was when Russia destroyed one of its own defunct orbiters in 2021, endangering the International Space Station. The ISS also had to conduct manoeuvres the same year to avoid space debris created by China blowing up one of its own satellites years earlier. In 2022, the United Nations passed a US-led resolution calling on countries to commit not to conduct any similar anti-satellite missile tests. That hasn’t stopped China, for one, looking at other ways of taking out orbital assets if it considers it necessary, looking at employing lasers and high-power microwaves to disable them. The US Space Force also claimed to have observed Chinese satellites practicing “dogfight” manoeuvres in orbit. ®