Sir Richard Branson has warned that Britain must prepare for war in space and to ‘dominate’ the industry for the sake of national security.
The British billionaire, 75, gave the eerie warning to crowds at Space-Comm Expo Europe in London this week.
Speaking via video chat at the space conference, he said: ‘I’m afraid we’re going to have to try to dominate it as far as … future wars are concerned, and hopefully work with Americans, but be ready to stand on our own two feet.’
Sir Richard said the UK is ‘capable’ of ‘matching’ competitors China, Russia and the US to dominate space, but added that government support for space companies is ‘another matter’.
‘It would be wise for the Government, particularly in this age with wars coming back again, to invest in the right projects,’ he said.
Maj Gen Tedman called on Britain to be ‘more assertive’, adding: ‘To keep pace with the threats and tech we need to move much faster and exploit commercial industry. The direction is clear. The time is now. The cost of inaction is rising.’
Many countries are already utilising space as a war-fighting domain with satellites for spying, encrypting communications, guiding missiles and ensuring the smooth running of an advanced economy.
Several countries have Space Commands within their militaries including the US, India, Russia, China and the UK – the latter based at RAF High Wycombe.
The British billionaire, 75, gave the eerie warning to crowds at Space-Comm Expo Europe in London this week
For this decade at least, a war in space would primarily be about war on Earth.
Given that technologically advanced powers now rely so much on space, it is central to modern military thinking.
Without satellites, the commanders don’t know where to position their aircraft carriers, long-range missiles and troops. Nor do they know precisely where the enemy is.
There is an existing Outer Space Treaty, however this is a relic of the 1960s and has not been updated to reflect modern military technology – or the emergence of private enterprises such as the US’s Space X and Blue Origin, or China’s i-Space.
The treaty prohibits placing nuclear weapons in space, for example, but makes no mention of conventional weapons.
Nor, given they had yet to be invented, does it even mention laser weapons.
We also lack guidelines about how close one country’s satellite can get to another’s which, given that parts of some countries’ nuclear early warning systems are in their satellites, would seem imperative.
On Wednesday, Space Minister Baroness Lloyd of Effra announced a £500million investment in Britain’s national space programme, bringing total government funding to £2.8billion between now and 2030.
This lagged far behind Germany’s planned €35billion (£30.4billion) investment in the next four years.
The US now finds itself in a new space race with China, with both nations planning to land astronauts on the moon before 2030 and later build bases on its surface.
Chinese satellites have been spotted ‘dogfighting’ in space, practising moving aggressively within less than a mile of each other suggesting they are preparing for space warfare.
Elsewhere, Russian intelligence satellites have stalked orbiting European spacecraft, prompting suspicions Moscow is developing an anti-satellite weapon.
