I’m mindful that I’m at an RAF conference and people may have seen the news this lunchtime so I thought I would just give an update on the crash in the vicinity of RAF Valley in Anglesey this afternoon. A T2 Hawk aircraft went down shortly after take-off, both crew members ejected as you may have seen. I’m glad to say they’ve now been taken to hospital for treatment. And of course, we’re investigating how and why this happened. But for now, our best wishes go to the crew along with our hopes for a speedy recovery.
Turning to the focus of your conference today, let me start with a health warning. I’m mindful of you being talked at all day. I’m a huge Star Trek fan. And so I’ve been very much looking forward to speaking to you today. I know you’ve heard lots of speeches, but we’re near the end, so hopefully you can Klingon. Sorry, there is more.
Joking aside for now, there is no getting away from the fact that we are living in a time of enormous instability and uncertainty. Our adversaries are probing us and testing us on a daily basis. Russia is waging war in Europe. China is reshaping the economic and technological order. Old alliances can no longer be taken for granted. And the threats we face are growing and getting closer to home.
So, against this backdrop, keeping our country safe, the first duty of any government is a greater and more urgent responsibility than it has been for generations. And so my overriding priority as Defence Secretary is to make sure that we build this country’s deterrence and readiness, to be ready, willing and capable of defeating an adversary so that they think twice about attacking us in the first place. That’s not a new idea, but what it takes to maximise and maintain deterrence in the 21st century is changing, because the threats to our security are evolving.
Hostile states buzz our airspace, they map our undersea cables and encroach on our waters, their hackers attack our infrastructure and our institutions, and they threaten us in and from space. Control of the waves was the essential ingredient in 19th century deterrence. That is why Britain built the finest naval power in history. In the 20th century it was control of the skies and so we built a world-class air force to protect us. This century will depend on control of space and so our job is to make sure that our deterrence in space is as strong as our deterrence here on Earth and to modernise our armed forces so that they’re ready to deter and if necessary defeat any adversary and in any domain.
Thanks to the cultural influences of science fiction, people instinctively see space as something of the future. But science facts matter here and now. Our national security, our economic power, most of our daily lives rely on software and hardware hundreds and thousands of miles above us. Space systems are critical to the effectiveness and capability of our armed forces. They’re what give us an operational advantage by enabling our forces to understand, communicate, move and fight as one.
There is no integrated force without space. Satellites are critical to intelligence gathering and missile warnings. They also underpin almost a fifth of the UK economy. We depend on them from everything from weather forecasts, energy supplies and financial transactions to Sat Navs, mobile phone connections and Amazon deliveries. Many people in this room would not have found their way here today without everyday technology that relies on space. The loss of GPS alone would cost our economy £1.4 billion a day.
The loss of everyday conveniences would undermine our daily freedoms and trust in our institutions. If you think that sounds like a bit of a leap, think how we react to the disruption when airports go offline or a train is suspended or mobile banking goes down. A minor inconvenience today can quickly become a long-standing grievance tomorrow. The kind of thing that takes people from the belief that things are unreliable to the conviction that things just don’t work anymore.
And that is the territory upon which populism thrives, which is what our adversaries are intent on fertilising in our country. So, our dependency on space is precisely why it is increasingly under threat from our adversaries. The threat is growing in scale, speed and sophistication, and challenges in space increasingly mirror the geopolitics here on Earth.
Our adversaries are investing heavily in weaponry that can take out our satellite systems and technology. Between 2019 and 2021, the combined Chinese and Russian operational satellite fleets grew by 70%. This year, it was revealed that two Russian satellites had intercepted the communications of at least a dozen European ones since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. What this shows is that not only do our adversaries have the capability to threaten our national interests and national security, they also unsurprisingly have the intent and that requires us to act.
We know that there are many challenges in defence and that in some areas we are not where we need to be. That’s why we’ve made the biggest investment in defence since the Cold War, with more to come. But at the same time, we should acknowledge that our space operations are already world leading.
We have a number of tools in our arsenal that give us access and freedom of action in space, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities, deep space radar, satellite communications and more.
And one of the joys of the last nine weeks or so in this job has been seeing some of that in action, the extraordinary people, technology and operations that we carry out every day. We can be extraordinarily proud of what defence is capable of doing and there are lots of things I’ve seen in the last nine weeks that I would dearly love to show the public because they genuinely make you proud to be British.
We can be proud of the fact that this small island off the northwest coast of Europe continues to punch above its weight in the world, whether on science and innovation or indeed the capability that we provide even to a great superpower like the United States.
But it’s important to get the balance right, to be self-confident enough, to be proud of what we have, and to be self-aware enough to acknowledge that we know we need to do more. Britain has to keep pace in the new space race, making sure we have the capabilities to control space, defend our assets, and if required, deny the use of space to hostile states.
This was recognised in the Strategic Defence Review, which for the first time put space on a par with land, sea and air as conflict domains. It was also recognised in the Defence Investment Plan, which earmarks more than £3 billion to space capabilities over the first four years. The UK Space Strategy, launched earlier this month, takes this further and puts defence and national security centre stage.
Earlier today, we announced the formation of the UK’s first ever squadron dedicated to our Control of Space mission. Despite my best efforts, the Chief of the Air Staff declined my suggestion to call it Star Fleet Command. And so, No. 3 Space Effects Squadron it is, and what a ring it has to it.
It will have, though, the ability to conduct offensive and defensive operations, to strengthen deterrence, reduce opportunities for coercion and enhance the resilience of our space capabilities. It will also disrupt, degrade and deny hostile activity and defend UK interests in space and on Earth. This new squadron will make sure that our armed forces can protect the satellites our country depends on, deter those who would threaten them and operate with confidence in an increasingly contested domain. Its mission supports our ongoing development of capabilities for orbital warfare, electronic warfare and counter-satellite weapons, all designed with deterrence in mind.
We cannot afford to make the cliché mistake of fighting the last war. More importantly, we would be wrong to prepare only to fight a current war. The rapid advances in battlefield technology and tactics we see in Ukraine is our warning. It would be foolish not to learn the lesson. Things are moving at warp speed. We have to be ready for space as the next battleground, and we are also clear that any capability we have will always be deployed responsibly and consistent with the UK’s commitment to a safe, secure and sustainable space domain. As on Earth, we do not seek conflict, we simply seek to defend our country, our interests, our values and our allies through deterrence.
Those alliances are paramount. None of what we hope to achieve can we do alone. That’s not just true for the UK but for every country. The world is simply too complex and the challenge is too great. My predecessor but one, John Healey, set out a NATO first but not NATO only approach. I think that’s absolutely the right position. The NATO alliance is the cornerstone of Britain’s defence and security and we need a stronger United Kingdom for a stronger Europe for a stronger NATO. Our alliance’s greatest assets in the future are going to be adaptability and innovation.
That’s the lesson from Ukraine and what underpins our focus in space. We have the foundations to succeed. Our space sector is already one of the most creative, productive and commercially successful in the world. is worth around £20 billion and employees upwards of 55,000 people. Our scientists and engineers build instruments that peer to the edge of the universe and will service satellites in orbit. We must continue to push the frontier of defence innovation and nowhere is that more true than in space, the final frontier. And I promise that’s the last one.
Pushing the frontier of defence innovation means that we can sustain our advantage where we have it and build it where we do not. That means expanding Britain’s defence industrial base and deepening our partnerships with world leading businesses and research institutions. This is critical to our security and it also delivers the Prime Minister’s re-industrialisation agenda and his mission for growth in every postcode.
Investment in defence is investment in British industry, in British skills, and in British jobs, almost 70% of which are already outside London and the South East. Expanding our presence in space will provide more opportunities for young people, whether that’s in or out of uniform or in high school jobs and apprenticeships in digital technologies, working in industry as well as in public service, in AI and telecoms and in robotics, national security driving economic prosperity and opportunity, not just making our country better able to defend itself but also making sure we have a country that is worth defending in the eyes and experiences of its people.
So, our country and the NATO alliance are facing a profound challenge. Our security is under threat in a way we haven’t had to contend with for many years. Our adversaries are seeking to divide and undermine us and the risk of miscalculation is all too real. This is as much a challenge in space as anywhere else. This domain is critical to our national security, our military operations and our everyday lives.
And so faced with this new frontier of conflict, we’re putting defence and deterrence at the heart of our approach. We’re committed to peaceful and responsible activities in space, but we will not shy away from defending the interests so vital to our way of life.
And as we meet the threats, and mitigate the risks, we are also seizing the opportunities, cashing in on the defence dividend to re-industrialise our country, create jobs and rejuvenate our alliances. The new space age is here and the UK is ready. So, thank you very much for your hard work and support in this endeavour. Thank you.
