Space battle fears as UK shares up on ‘lasers and cyber assaults’ to cease Putin and China

Britain is developing classified ‘offensive’ space capabilities to counter Russia and China as an orbital arms race escalates, defence chiefs have revealed

Britain is gearing up to clash with hostile foreign forces in outer space as a high-stakes global arms race reaches orbit.

Defence chiefs are currently building secret “offensive capabilities” designed to neutralise threats from Russia and China, but military bosses are keeping the exact hardware strictly classified.

The plans were laid out in the UK’s latest Space Strategy document, which highlights that Britain must take action to “deny adversaries” freedom of movement above the Earth. Security experts believe the top-secret arsenal could involve jamming adversary satellites, targeting systems with offensive cyber attacks, or blinding enemy sensors using powerful directed-energy lasers.

It follows a historic admission from across the Atlantic, where the US military confirmed for the first time that it has already deployed operational “space control weapons” into orbit. US Air Force Secretary Troy Meink made the revelation as anxiety rises over reckless orbital manoeuvres by Moscow and Beijing.

Warning of the grave threat, former Armed Forces minister Al Carns told The Sun: “Space is the next frontier of war fighting. China is a superpower. America is the same. We have got to accept that the UK is a middle power.”

Both Vladimir Putin’s regime and Beijing have already successfully tested space tech capable of blowing satellites to pieces in orbit. Russia has also deployed satellite-jamming gear and launched cyber assaults during its war in Ukraine.

Laying out the high-tech options on the table, Dr Mark Hilborne, from King’s College London’s Defence Studies Department, said: “The kind of capabilities the UK could use would be things like electronic warfare and jamming…things like cyber attacks, offensive cyber attacks.”

Dr Hilborne noted that direct-energy weapons could easily be fired to “dazzle” satellite optics, blinding them in an instant, describing the methods as “achievable” goals for UK forces.

He warned that if hostile states took out key satellites, life for millions of Brits would plunge into chaos within minutes.

Dr Hilborne added: “Banking, power grids, many many military functions, your Uber driver and the pizza delivery guy – all of them would be undermined by GPS going down.”

In the official Space Strategy paper published earlier this month, the Ministry of Defence says the nation must retain the power to “deny adversaries” space access through both “defensive and offensive” operational missions.

Defence leaders are racing to establish a “significantly expanded set of military capabilities in space” by 2035, though exact details are being kept secret to protect national security.

A war chest of £880million has been set aside over the next four years to supercharge military intelligence, orbital surveillance and space control systems.

An MoD spokesperson said: “From communications, to retail, to banking, space is vital to our security and prosperity. We’re working closely with allies to counter growing threats in an increasingly important environment.

“Our new space strategy, backed by £7.8 billion, will help strengthen Britain’s defences, protecting the critical space capabilities we rely on every day.”