Real life Star Wars as UK instructed to ‘dominate’ house to tackle Russia and China

Richard Branson has called on the UK to ‘dominate’ outer space and ‘stand on our own two feet’ in future Star Wars against rogue nations like Russia and China

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Billionaire Sir Richard Branson has called on Britain to ‘dominate’ outer space as Russia and Iran wage wars.

The Virgin founder and space boss, worth just shy of £3billion, warned that we must not fall behind rogue nations like China and Russia in the fight for the skies.

And instead of simply relying on the United States to protect us from space wars of the future, he believes we must ‘learn to stand on our own two feet’.

He delivered a rallying cry for Britain to step up as the planet is ravaged by wars in Ukraine and the Middle East.

Speaking from his home on Necker Island for an event hosted in London on the future of space, Branson said that he thought Britain was more than ‘up for the job’ of matching our enemies’ space programmes and delivering a protective force above the skies.

He said: “We’ve got to try here in Europe to dominate it [space], as far as future wars are concerned.

“Hopefully we can work with the Americans, but we’ve got to be ready to stand on our own two feet.

“We’re capable of it, but whether the government is willing to support the industry is another matter.

“European companies do not get a lot of financial support.”

China and America are both vying for dominance in orbit with huge plans to weaponise near-space using satellite technology.

But Sir Richard reckons that if the British government offers adequate funding, we can steal a march on both and be a leader – and a winner – in space battles.

At the moment, the business magnate said the ‘playing field [is] tipped’ away from the UK and Europe and towards the US and others.

Branson noted the amount of money Elon Musk’s satellite programme Starlink had received from the US government compared to his own company Virgin Orbit, complaining that his ‘satellites were too small’ and his pockets ‘not deep’ enough to match Musk out-of-this-world tech.

Virgin Orbit went bankrupt in 2023.

At the same event, a top military insider, who did not want to be named, issued an even starker warning, claiming that the space wars of the future had essentially already begun.

They told the Daily Star that in the past year space was becoming a ‘primary target’ for the likes of Russia and China, and that they had seen first-hand our enemies launch ‘anti-satellite missiles, hypersonic vehicles and space blades’, which are used to damage our vital communications equipment already in orbit.

“Over the last year we’ve also seen our adversaries conduct close proximity operations, and use AI and cyber tools as part of what is a formidable counterspace arsenal”, they added.

The threat from space could be even greater, they went on, considering the risk that UK’s GPS systems could be knocked out, something that would pose an existential threat to the country’s economy.

According to research, losing ground tracking signals for things like Sat-Nav would cost the UK ‘around £7 billion a week’, as well as cause chaos in a number of vital industries.

The military insider also criticised those who might claim that space warfare is a problem for the future.

They warned: “The threat is real, and the time is now.”