7 December 2024

There is a real life Star Wars happening - and the UK isn't ready - OPINION

Fiona Hill

Space Odyssey and dozens of other sci-fi stories set in space have delighted us for decades. What’s really happening in space right now, though, should worry us.

It is part of the great power competition that is going on across the world. What’s going on up there can no longer be divorced from terrestrial geopolitics, geo-economics and statecraft.

So, as the UK Government works on its upcoming strategic defence review, which was launched by Prime Minister Keir Starmer with the aim to make Britain secure at home and strong abroad for decades to come, policymakers will become increasingly aware that to omit space would be a mistake.

To stay ahead of strategic competition we must look at space as a crucial part of our defence and security thinking. Ships, aircraft and tanks tend to dominate the debate and headlines, yet none of those things will operate effectively without assured access to space capabilities. Nor could GCHQ function without the satellites in space, a strand of our intelligence gathering that will arguably become more important in the modern world.

To understand just how much we need protection in space, we must recognise that what goes on above us impacts everyday life on earth.

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