{"id":22353,"date":"2021-05-14T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-05-14T13:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/uncategorized\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T18:22:07","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T18:22:07","slug":"british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">WASHINGTON \u2014 The United Kingdom\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2021\/03\/16\/more-nukes-and-a-regional-pivot-britain-unveils-its-long-awaited-defense-review\/\" target=\"_blank\">recent guiding plan<\/a> for its military included both cuts to existing systems and investments in new technologies, with a special emphasis on increasing the U.K.\u2019s capabilities in space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">During an <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/energy-and-environment\/2021\/05\/04\/british-military-aircraft-must-hit-net-zero-target-by-2040-raf-head-says\/\" target=\"_blank\">April visit to Washington<\/a>, Air Chief Marshal Mike Wigston, the head of the Royal Air Force, sat down with C4ISRNET to discuss some of those investments outlined in the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy. This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>One item listed in the integrated review was a new intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance satellite constellation. Can you elaborate on what the thinking is there?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Our aim for that program is a [constellation of] responsive launched small satellites, low Earth orbit constellation, where we have the option of selecting the payloads, selecting the role and selecting the position of the satellites, and then launching them and getting them into operation in a very, very short decision action cycle. This is something that is attractive to me as an operational commander. And I think it will have direct utility for the war fighter, that ability to respond to a crisis in a particular part of the world, or perhaps a requirement to add some resilience to another part of the space network. [This design] means we can respond, launch and get something into service very rapidly. And that\u2019s the work that we will be continuing over the next couple of years, for that particular aspect of our space program.<\/p>\n\n\n\t<aside class=\"smg-interstitial-link wp-block-smg-interstitial-link\">\n\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/defensenews\/interviews\/2021\/05\/10\/britains-royal-air-force-chief-talks-f-35-tally-and-divesting-equipment\/\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__media\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"300\" height=\"169\" src=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RAF_wigston_f35.jpg.jpg?w=300\" class=\"smg-interstitial-link__image wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" \/>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"smg-interstitial-link__content\">\n\t\t\t\t<span class=\"smg-interstitial-link__kicker\">Related<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t<h3 class=\"smg-interstitial-link__title\">Britain\u2019s Royal Air Force chief talks F-35 tally and divesting equipment<\/h3>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p class=\"smg-interstitial-link__excerpt\">Air Chief Marshal Sir Mike Wigston laid out the RAF&#039;s future following a major British military review.<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/a>\n\t<\/aside>\n\t\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>The U.K. government <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2021\/02\/08\/british-militarys-space-campaign-picks-up-steam-with-skynet-upgrade\/\" target=\"_blank\"><b>has invested<\/b><\/a><b> in the company OneWeb. Is that something you think might be a fit for this system?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.K.\u2019s investment with OneWeb was a another part of government, so that\u2019s separate from the United Kingdom\u2019s Ministry of Defence. But there are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/smr\/2020\/05\/12\/a-bankrupt-oneweb-could-get-some-help-from-the-defense-department\/\" target=\"_blank\">elements of OneWeb<\/a> \u2014 and all of the similar systems that are being launched into space at the moment \u2014 around the command and control, the level of autonomy and autonomous control in those satellite constellations, where there\u2019s huge numbers of small and very small satellites working together. So there are elements of what OneWeb is doing, which are of interest to me, in a similar way to some of the other similar systems that have been launched at the moment. But that\u2019s not something that I\u2019m directly involved with.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>The U.K. was involved in the European navigation system known as Galileo but was <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/space\/2018\/12\/04\/london-turns-to-america-after-eu-excludes-britain-from-galileo-satellite-program\/\" target=\"_blank\"><b>forced out following Brexit<\/b><\/a><b>. British official discussed doing a U.K.-only system, but that has been delayed and is seen by some analysts as too expensive. What is the current status of these discussions?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">So again, the primary responsibility for that is in another part of government, but of course, the Ministry of Defence is involved because of our interest in, and the importance of, GPS and global positioning. And we\u2019re still analyzing and assessing what the options are, because nobody needs us to build a direct duplication of a system that\u2019s already in place like GPS. But what would be really helpful, as we look at a more challenged, a more competitive [space] and potentially a need for greater resilience in space, is a system that\u2019s complimentary, that might be made in a different model, with a mix of nodes on the network, some of them on the surface of the Earth, some of them in space. There are some options there, and an opportunity to do something different, which is complimentary to GPS, but that adds resilience in a different way. So I\u2019m very keen that we continue to explore that. And it\u2019s certainly something that the U.K. has some world-leading technologies, and we\u2019ve got a lot to offer. And so that will be something that we will continue to work on over the next few years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>The U.S. stood up both a Space Command and a Space Force in the last couple of years. The U.K. is now spinning <\/b><a href=\"https:\/\/www.defensenews.com\/global\/europe\/2020\/01\/15\/former-fighter-pilot-picked-to-lead-british-militarys-space-command\/\" target=\"_blank\"><b>up its own Space Command<\/b><\/a><b>. Can you walk us through what that\u2019s going to look like, and what the interaction with its U.S. counterpart might be going forward?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The U.K. Space Command is an opportunity for us to bring together some quite disparate elements \u2014 of largely Royal Air Force units \u2014 that are operating in space and are closely linked in with U.S. Space Command and the U.S. Space Force already, but we haven\u2019t had a unifying command and control and a unifying organization for them. I think this, at the very outset of the U.K. Space Command, it\u2019s an opportunity for us to bring together everything that we\u2019re doing in space, in the Royal Air Force and in the U.K. Ministry of Defence, bring it all under one organization to make sure that we\u2019re channeling the investment that we\u2019re going to make, that we\u2019re giving the people in that organization the skills and the equipment they need to make sure that we are living up to our ambition and our prime minister\u2019s ambition for the U.K. to take a leading role in Europe in space. And so the Space Command will be that nodal point where we engage with allies, like the United States, that we share information, that we develop new systems, and that we continue to benefit from all of the opportunities that space offers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><b>Across the board, the commercial sector outspends governments on technology investment, but it\u2019s particularly true with space. You have billions earmarked in the integrated review for space, which is real money, but the reality is that you will need to rely on private sector investment going forward. How do you make that work?<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Space is already an enterprise where some of the leading progress that\u2019s being made at the moment is in the commercial sector and private companies making enormous leaps in space technology and what we are doing in space. And so working closely with those will be a key part of the U.K.\u2019s space plan and the U.K.\u2019s role in space. The figures for commercial investment in space, of course they dwarf what we are doing from a military perspective, but our role is significantly different. Because whilst those commercial organizations are investing in space to provide services, to enable things to go faster and further on Earth to enable people\u2019s day-to-day lives, the role of the Royal Air Force, the role of armed forces in space, is fundamentally different. We\u2019re there to understand what some of our potential adversaries, some malign actors, are doing, to understand and to protect what\u2019s our critical national infrastructure in space, and to be ready to defend it. That\u2019s about information sharing, that\u2019s about understanding and having a clear picture of what\u2019s going on in space. And that\u2019s about working with allies so that we\u2019re ready to act when we see something which, you know, crosses the line of unacceptability.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The head of the Royal Air Force discusses the Ministry of Defence&#8217;s goals in space.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":69167,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-nofollow":"","_yoast_wpseo_canonical":"","_acf":"","_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":37,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_smg_distribution_targets":{"10":{"categories":["europe","global","daily-news-roundup","newsletters","military-space-report"],"primary_category":"europe"}}},"categories":[7,106,29,32,37],"tags":[],"coauthors":[3222],"class_list":["post-22353","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-battlefield-tech","category-daily-brief","category-home","category-newsletters","category-space"],"acf":{"subheadline":"","legacy_arc_id":"TQFNHXFVXZDATGAR3LFN2RCP3M","arc_canonical_url":"\/battlefield-tech\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/","remove_feature_photo":false,"is_sponsored":false,"subtype":"","redirect_url":"","disable_inline_ads":false,"native_logo_pretext":"Presented By:"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v26.0 (Yoast SEO v28.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities - C4ISRNet<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"The head of the Royal Air Force discusses the Ministry of Defence&#039;s goals in space.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The head of the Royal Air Force discusses the Ministry of Defence&#039;s goals in space.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"C4ISRNet\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-05-14T13:00:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-08-08T18:22:07+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Aaron Mehta\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Aaron Mehta\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\n\t    \"@context\": \"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\n\t    \"@graph\": [\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Article\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/#article\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"author\": {\n\t                \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"headline\": \"British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-05-14T13:00:00+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T18:22:07+00:00\",\n\t            \"mainEntityOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"wordCount\": 1194,\n\t            \"commentCount\": 0,\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/British-Royal-Air-Force.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"articleSection\": [\n\t                \"Battlefield Tech\",\n\t                \"Daily Brief\",\n\t                \"Home\",\n\t                \"Newsletters\",\n\t                \"Space\"\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"CommentAction\",\n\t                    \"name\": \"Comment\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/#respond\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebPage\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities - C4ISRNet\",\n\t            \"isPartOf\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#website\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"primaryImageOfPage\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/#primaryimage\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"thumbnailUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/British-Royal-Air-Force.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"datePublished\": \"2021-05-14T13:00:00+00:00\",\n\t            \"dateModified\": \"2026-08-08T18:22:07+00:00\",\n\t            \"description\": \"The head of the Royal Air Force discusses the Ministry of Defence's goals in space.\",\n\t            \"breadcrumb\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/#breadcrumb\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ReadAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": [\n\t                        \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/\"\n\t                    ]\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/#primaryimage\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/British-Royal-Air-Force.jpg.jpg\",\n\t            \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/08\\\/British-Royal-Air-Force.jpg.jpg\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"BreadcrumbList\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/2021\\\/05\\\/14\\\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\\\/#breadcrumb\",\n\t            \"itemListElement\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 1,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Home\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"home\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 2,\n\t                    \"name\": \"Space\",\n\t                    \"item\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/space\\\/\",\n\t                    \"ad_zone\": \"c4-space\"\n\t                },\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"ListItem\",\n\t                    \"position\": 3,\n\t                    \"name\": \"British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities\"\n\t                }\n\t            ]\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"WebSite\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#website\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/\",\n\t            \"name\": \"C4ISRNet\",\n\t            \"description\": \"Media for the Intelligence-Age Military | C4ISRNET\",\n\t            \"publisher\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#organization\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"potentialAction\": [\n\t                {\n\t                    \"@type\": \"SearchAction\",\n\t                    \"target\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"EntryPoint\",\n\t                        \"urlTemplate\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"\n\t                    },\n\t                    \"query-input\": {\n\t                        \"@type\": \"PropertyValueSpecification\",\n\t                        \"valueRequired\": true,\n\t                        \"valueName\": \"search_term_string\"\n\t                    }\n\t                }\n\t            ],\n\t            \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\"\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Organization\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#organization\",\n\t            \"name\": \"C4ISRNet\",\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/\",\n\t            \"logo\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c4isrnet-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/06\\\/c4isrnet-logo-white.png\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"C4ISRNet\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"\n\t            }\n\t        },\n\t        {\n\t            \"@type\": \"Person\",\n\t            \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1\",\n\t            \"name\": \"migration\",\n\t            \"image\": {\n\t                \"@type\": \"ImageObject\",\n\t                \"inLanguage\": \"en-US\",\n\t                \"@id\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec\",\n\t                \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"contentUrl\": \"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\n\t                \"caption\": \"migration\"\n\t            },\n\t            \"url\": \"https:\\\/\\\/one.sightlinemg.com\\\/c4isrnet\\\/author\\\/migration\\\/\"\n\t        }\n\t    ]\n\t}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities - C4ISRNet","description":"The head of the Royal Air Force discusses the Ministry of Defence's goals in space.","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities","og_description":"The head of the Royal Air Force discusses the Ministry of Defence's goals in space.","og_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/","og_site_name":"C4ISRNet","article_published_time":"2021-05-14T13:00:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-08-08T18:22:07+00:00","author":"Aaron Mehta","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Aaron Mehta","Est. reading time":"6 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/"},"author":{"name":"migration","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1"},"headline":"British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities","datePublished":"2021-05-14T13:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T18:22:07+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/"},"wordCount":1194,"commentCount":0,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/British-Royal-Air-Force.jpg.jpg","articleSection":["Battlefield Tech","Daily Brief","Home","Newsletters","Space"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/","name":"British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities - C4ISRNet","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/British-Royal-Air-Force.jpg.jpg","datePublished":"2021-05-14T13:00:00+00:00","dateModified":"2026-08-08T18:22:07+00:00","description":"The head of the Royal Air Force discusses the Ministry of Defence's goals in space.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/British-Royal-Air-Force.jpg.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/British-Royal-Air-Force.jpg.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/2021\/05\/14\/british-royal-air-force-invests-in-space-capabilities\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/","ad_zone":"home"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Space","item":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/space\/","ad_zone":"c4-space"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"British Royal Air Force invests in space capabilities"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#website","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/","name":"C4ISRNet","description":"Media for the Intelligence-Age Military | C4ISRNET","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#organization","name":"C4ISRNet","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c4isrnet-logo-white.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/c4isrnet-logo-white.png","caption":"C4ISRNet"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"}},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/#\/schema\/person\/cc76c831bb37a926738c8391fca7a3b1","name":"migration","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=gcf4cb6ee0ec29e49e7a963234e4340ec","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9e8d47be443ce94ce7fc357677b5f9c70235bb1f59e7267a102a74af58c04f59?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"migration"},"url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/author\/migration\/"}]}},"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"C4ISRNet","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet","push-errors":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/British-Royal-Air-Force.jpg.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22353","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22353"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22353\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":43908,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22353\/revisions\/43908"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22353"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22353"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22353"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/c4isrnet\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=22353"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}