We need a special relationship for space

Seventy-five years ago, Prime Minister Winston Churchill delivered a famous address at Westminster College, Fulton, Missouri. It was a speech that mixed despair with hope. Despair at Communism’s “iron curtain descending across the continent” but hope that together our great nations “hold the power to save the future.”

Today, Churchill’s words are more resonant and relevant than ever as we look to adversaries threatening us not just from Earth but from space. Even with the level of threat to our interests in space, our objective remains to keep the domain peaceful. Churchill’s contemporary, Supreme Allied Commander and later President Dwight Eisenhower once suggested that, “we are going to have peace even if we have to fight for it.” Today, our ability to deter conflict in space could well depend on our preparedness to win in the domain, which is critical given how much we rely on space-based capabilities.

Satellite constellations in low-earth orbit link almost every aspect of our daily lives whether it’s our transport networks, banking systems, mobile phones, the internet or television. Almost anything, or anyone, who is on the move benefits from the positioning, navigation and timing capabilities of our Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS). Militarily, space-based assets are critical for communication, intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance, and navigation.

But with immense advantages come dependencies; dependencies betray vulnerabilities and vulnerabilities lead to exploitation. Imagine for a second a day without GNSS. It would be a day of market volatility, of local blackouts, of delayed journeys and of malfunctioning emergency services. It would be a day of chaos.

Make no mistake, our potential adversaries are working hard to make this nightmare a reality. At the end of last year Russia launched a direct-ascent anti-satellite (DA-ASAT) missile. Behaviour like this is deeply concerning and potentially catastrophic. That is why we continue to ask all nations to engage in UN dialogue on responsible space behaviours. But just as our nations stood together in Churchill’s day to defend freedom, so we are uniting once more to safeguard the space domain and shape our future frontiers.

Almost two years ago, the United States established a new Space Command to protect and defend US and allied interests in space. Now the UK has set up its own Space Command. As Commanders in charge of these areas, we met up at the new Headquarters located at RAF High Wycombe earlier this month, to plan our future joint approach ahead of the UK Space Command formally standing up yesterday.

We’re already building on the firmest of foundations. Since 1963 the US and the UK have worked hand-in-hand at RAF Fylingdales to operate the Ballistic Missile Early Warning System and provide Space Surveillance for the benefit of both nations. We already share the same objectives: to understand what our adversaries are doing in space, protect our critical national infrastructure in this evolving domain, and be ready to defend it. And we are already collaborating on a string of space programmes.

Our Combined Space Operations initiative brings our nations alongside Canada, Australia, New Zealand, France and Germany to strengthen our collective situational awareness, augment our policies and coordinate our operations in space. The UK was the first partner nation to join the US-led Operation Olympic Defender which aims to keep space safe for all nations. We are also building a transatlantic partnership of UK and US defence and industry personnel working together on launching and researching the wider military uses of small satellites. All the while, our Five Eyes intelligence alliance is advancing our ability to coordinate and collaborate for more effective space stability.

It is the duty of every nation to keep the space environment safe and secure for all. Just as it is the responsibility of all countries to prevent our worst day in space from becoming our worst day on earth. So, the US and UK will continue to deepen our space partnership and promote responsible behaviours in the space domain. We will continue to guard our outer limits. And we will continue to keep our sights firmly fixed on the stars.

We have no doubt, as Churchill told his audience in Missouri seventy-five years ago, that when our “moral and material forces and convictions are joined in fraternal association, the high-roads of the future will be clear, not only for us but for all, not only for our time, but for a century to come”.

General James H Dickinson is the head of the United States Space Command. Air Vice Marshal Paul Godfrey is head of the United Kingdom Space Command