Europe Begins Funding Offensive In-Space Capabilities

What happened

UK-based orbital security startup Shield Space launched a coalition of UK space companies to pitch the UK MoD on a space-based carrier-strike platform.

Astroscale UK won a £15M (€18M) contract from the UK MoD to act as the prime contractor for a new, secretive in-space defense program, called LEDA. And Blackswan Space, the Lithuanian company that recently announced its RPO Kit product, published an open letter (originally sent in September) to UK Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State Liz Lloyd calling for greater funding of space control capabilities.

That movement only recently turned from strategizing into action. The European Defence Fund tapped French OTV startup OSMOS X to lead a study on how to respond to threats on orbit.

These announcements come in the same month as a Russian spy satellite got up-close-and-personal with an ICEYE sat operating over Ukraine. But European company officials told Payload that Europe’s urge to build up its in-space defense posture has been growing for years.

Fight training: Space has been home to spy satellites and military comsats since the early days of spaceflight. As national militaries become increasingly reliant on fleets of EO and comms satellites, however, it’s become obvious to military planners that assets in space can no longer simply observe and report.

As a result, national militaries are starting to invest in offensive capabilities. “[LEDA] is going to form part of the permanent pathway to the UK’s understanding of orbital warfare, and that contains how to counter RPO threats,” Astroscale UK Director of Defense Alex Godfrey told Payload.