The war for space domination is in full swing and the top countries are trying whatever they can to ensure they get an advantage. The UK wouldn’t want to be left behind and as the space-based assets are really important for the defense and military performance, RAF has decided to indulge in this matter.
It might not come as a surprise that during the lockdown period there was not much high-profile news from the aviation sector. This is the reason why the top headline for us is the model airplane in a wind tunnel.
The BAE systems shared some details of the future fighter that gave us an insight into how this aircraft would work and how beneficial could it be. There has been a lot of emphasis on the country’s determination to sort out the technological and financial problems and these actions would set the challenges in the national defense for the coming decades.
The aircraft is supposed to provide services in 2034 and doesn’t matter what capabilities it brings to the RAF, in the end, the operational advantage is about a connected system of systems. So, it’s understandable that it’s not appropriate for the RAF or its allies to limit their aims, if they want to project power and protect the home territory they need to increase operations in orbit.
UK will be bringing space in the operational domain just like the USA and Russia and while it’s an important matter, creating an effective force is even more important. As the UK includes the space into the operational domain it also needs to invest in different independent capabilities. They need to be able to monitor space weather like solar storms that can disturb the operations. They also need ground- and space-based radar and telescopes that can help track the orbit.
Another important thing is the cyber hardening of the assets and communication links. To be able to effectively use the space-acquired data, investment is needed in communication and computation. Protecting the assets is important as they are vulnerable and could be damaged deliberately or non-deliberately.