By Kurtis Archer | 2025-12-01

Russia's ongoing attempts to interfere with British military satellites are part of a broader pattern of hostile behavior in space, as the Kremlin and the Chinese government seek to expand their military activities into the space domain.

Russian satellites have been stalking British military satellites, UK Space Command leader Maj. Gen. Paul Tedman told the BBC in an October 2 report.

"They're interested in what we're doing and flying relatively close," Tedman said. "They've got payloads on board that can see our satellites and are trying to collect information from them."

Russia also has been trying to jam the United Kingdom's military satellites with ground-based systems every week, he said.

The UK operates six dedicated communications and surveillance military satellites, according to World Population Review data for 2025.

Russia has 110, and China has 157.

The British government largely relies on US support for space security, but plans to develop more missile defense systems and space assets. Its plans include satellite defense objectives, such as testing sensors to detect laser threats.

While the United States increasingly considers China to be the largest threat to space security, Tedman believes Russia is still the primary danger.

"I would say the Chinese have by far the more sophisticated capability but the Russians have more will to use their counterspace systems," he said.

Counterspace weapons are offensive or defensive capabilities used to deny, disrupt, degrade or protect space-based assets.

The United States has repeatedly accused Russia of jamming its military satellites and of deploying satellites that can fire projectiles in orbit.

Germany’s Federal Minister of Defense Boris Pistorius also has accused Russian satellites of stalking German military satellites.

Japan’s defense ministry is meanwhile developing systems to shield the country's military satellites from Chinese and Russian "satellite killer" attacks.

According to The Japan News, these aggressive satellites can use a robotic arm or electromagnetic waves to interfere with adversarial satellite operations.

ASAT weapon tests in orbit

Russia and China have tested anti-satellite (ASAT) weapons in orbit. Russia conducted an ASAT test in 2021 that created 1,500 trackable pieces of orbital debris, while China created 3,000 trackable pieces during a 2007 ASAT test.

Both tests are thought to have generated hundreds of thousands of smaller fragments of debris.

In March, the US Space Force (USSF) said Chinese satellites had been observed performing sophisticated maneuvers in orbit, suggesting Beijing is developing technologies capable of disrupting or damaging communications satellites.

US officials suggest Russia and China may have violated the Comprehensive Test Ban Treaty, which prohibits the testing of nuclear weapons.

The United States and United Kingdom have accused Russia of developing systems to launch nuclear weapons into space.

In 2021, China developed and tested a nuclear-capable hypersonic missile that circled the Earth and reentered the atmosphere toward its target at extremely high speeds, drawing international concern, the Financial Times reported.

Traditional missile defense systems may not be able to handle this type of flight path, analysts say, as most defense systems are designed to track and intercept intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) with a predictable flight trajectory.

In February 2024, US intelligence confirmed that Russia was developing a space-based nuclear ASAT weapon.

That same year, Russia vetoed a UN resolution that reaffirmed the 1967 Outer Space Treaty’s prohibition of placing nuclear weapons in space, raising concern among space experts and policy analysts.