The UK Royal Air Force has unveiled plans to build a radar station in Wales to reportedly monitor space activities by Russia and China and counter perceived threats, The Telegraph has written.
"A radar station for tracking satellites in space is to be built in Wales as the Royal Air Force gears up to tackle 'reckless' space threats from the likes of China and Russia," the report states.
According to the newspaper, the project known as Darc is being developed under the AUKUS security partnership between the UK, the US, and Australia. The station will be located at Cawdor Barracks in Pembrokeshire. The Telegraph notes that the station aims to protect vital satellite communication and navigation networks. UK Defence Secretary John Healey stated that the station would help safeguard the country's space assets.
On May 6, Russia proposed a UN Security Council resolution to reaffirm commitments not to use space for deploying weapons or using force from or in space against Earth or space objects. The resolution was not adopted, with the US, France, the UK, Japan, Slovenia, South Korea, and Malta voting against it.
Two weeks later, Pentagon spokesperson Patrick Ryder suggested that Russia had allegedly launched an anti-satellite spacecraft into orbit. He assured that the US military would continue to monitor the Russian spacecraft, which he claimed had characteristics similar to anti-satellite weapons purportedly deployed from 2019-2022.
On May 23, Russian Deputy Foreign Minister Sergey Ryabkov stated that Russia advocates for maintaining space as a purely peaceful environment and supports the progressive development of space science and technology.
Space News recently reported that the US Space Force had tasked six private companies with developing a concept for a range to simulate "military scenarios" in space.