Sounding more unhinged by the day, Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin threatened Bulgaria with a nuclear strike as the Russian invasion of Ukraine escalated. Novinite reports:

“This is what Sarmat is good for. It will not ask for consent for the flight from the cowardly Bulgarians, the vicious Romanians and the Montenegrins who betrayed our common history. Like the other various nations like the Swedes.”

This was written on Twitter by the former Deputy Prime Minister of Russia and CEO of Roscosmos Dmitry Rogozin on the occasion of Bulgaria’s refusal to provide an air corridor for a government plane to Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.

The RS-28 Sarmat, better known as “Satan II”, is a super-heavy intercontinental ballistic missile for carrying nuclear warheads. Its range is 18,000 kilometers.

This is the first direct threat made by the Russian authorities to Bulgaria since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24.

UltiSat to offer Cobham Satcom tracking systems to provide US and NATO defense organizations enhanced SATCOM capabilities

CONCORD, Calif. (Cobham Satcom PR) — Cobham Satcom, a leading global provider of land and maritime satellite communications solutions to the Government and Enterprise sectors, and UltiSat, Inc., a global provider of end-to-end communications for government, humanitarian-aid, and critical infrastructure, have announced that they have signed a strategic distributor and integrator agreement.

After decades of relative peace, a full-scale war has broken out in Europe with the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Angered by the former Soviet republic’s efforts to integrate with Europe, Russian President Vladimir Putin has rolled the dice and unleashed hell on his nation’s neighbor.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but there are patterns that echo down through time. Sixteen centuries ago, another European leader launched a similar invasion designed to restore past glories. He succeeded — to a point.

All this has Happened Before…

In late June 533, an expeditionary force under the command of Gen. Flavius Balisarius set sail from the Eastern Roman Empire capital of Constantinople. After a voyage of several months along the coasts of Greece and Italy, the force landed at Caputvada on the North Africa coast in early September.

The expeditionary force’s target was the Vandal Kingdom, centered in the former Roman capital of North Africa, Carthage. Emperor Justinian I had dispatched the expedition with two objectives in mind, one short term and limited, the other expansive and long term.

The Vandals had been part of a wave of barbarian tribes that, pushed out of their homelands by marauding Huns, had overrun the Western Roman Empire in the early fifth century. (The empire had split into east and west in 395, with separate capitals at Ravenna and Constantinople.) Vandals and other barbarians had crossed the Rhine, pillaged their way across Gaul (modern day France and Belgium), and seized control of Iberia (present-day Spain and Portugal). For a period, life was good as the invaders soaked up the Mediterranean sun and lives off the tax revenues that used to go to the Western Roman Empire.

• UK’s first Defence Space Strategy published today to address growing threats
• £1.4 billion invested in cutting-edge technology to protect UK interests in space
• UK will strengthen partnerships with key allies and NATO to build stability and resilience

LONDON (Ministry of Defence PR) — The UK will invest £1.4 billion [US $1.9 billion] to bolster our national interests in space, as part of the first Defence Space Strategy published today.

Following publication of the National Space Strategy in September last year, the Defence Space Strategy (DSS) outlines how Defence will protect the UK’s national interests in space in an era of ever-growing threats, stimulating growth across the sector and supporting highly skilled jobs across the UK.

North Atlantic Treaty Organization Policy
Published Jan. 17, 2022

INTRODUCTION

1. Space is increasingly important for the Alliance’s and Allies’ security and prosperity.  Space brings benefits in multiple areas from weather monitoring, environment and agriculture, to transport, science, communications and banking.  The use of space has greatly enhanced Allies’ and NATO’s ability to anticipate threats and respond to crises with greater speed, effectiveness and precision. The evolution in the uses of space and rapid advances in space technology have created new opportunities, but also new risks, vulnerabilities, and potentially threats for the Alliance’s and Allies’ security and defence. Today, access to, and use of, space is no longer the prerogative of a few nations that are technically capable of launching and operating a spacecraft. Space technology and services have become more readily accessible, cheaper and more capable.  Most space capabilities are dual use, serving civilian/commercial as well as military purposes, often at the same time, further adding to the complexity of the space domain¹.  In security and defence terms, space is increasingly contested, congested and competitive and requires the Alliance to be able to operate in a disrupted, denied and degraded environment. Allies’ space capabilities could become a high priority target given the advantages that space systems provide in conflict and given Allies’ dependence on these systems to enable operations.   

LUXEMBOURG (Kleos Space PR) — Kleos Space, a space-powered radio frequency reconnaissance data-as-a-service (DaaS) company, has received a data evaluation contract from Advanced Ground Information Systems, Inc. (AGIS).

AGIS simultaneously processes up to 200,000 real-time sensor reports to provide command and control communication capabilities to US military, government and first responders. Its Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) system enables data interoperability between U.S. and NATO C5ISR systems to provide a common operational picture. AGIS’ C5ISR system will be using Kleos’ electronic intelligence (ELINT) data to complement other intelligence data sources to provide hostile and illegal shipping awareness to its customers with the ability to direct forces.

by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor

Well, this was a rather frightening thing to wake up to this morning. GPS World reports:

The Kremlin warned it could blow up 32 GPS satellites with its new anti-satellite technology, ASAT, which it tested Nov. 15 on a retired Soviet Tselina-D satellite, according to numerous news reports.

On the state-run Channel One, host Dmitry Kiselyov warned that Russia’s anti-satellite missiles would leave the United States and NATO blind if the multi-national defense alliance “crosses our red line.”

LUXEMBOURG, 29 September 2021 (OQ Technology PR) – OQ Technology, a Luxembourg-based satellite 5G IoT company, and GovSat, a public-private joint venture between the Luxembourg government and satellite operator SES, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) to collaborate on developing and testing satellite-based IoT (Internet of things) and machine-to-machine (M2M) products aimed at defence and government sectors.

By combining OQ Technology’s 5G products and services with GovSat’s end-to-end satcom solutions, already supporting customers such as NATO, the UK’s Ministry of Defence (MOD) and the Belgium Navy, the companies aim to offer highly scalable applications for air, land and maritime missions across the world. Customers of these future applications will benefit from access to real-time 5G IoT coverage, dedicated geostationary (GEO) capabilities, specialized frequencies and licenses, and a wider footprint of multiple beams.

BRUSSELS (NATO PR) — At the 14 June Brussels Summit, NATO and Luxembourg signed a Joint Statement to develop a Strategic Space Situational Awareness System (3SAS) in the Situation Centre’s Geospatial Section at NATO HQ. With 6.7 Million Euro funding from Luxembourg, this capability will allow the Alliance to better understand space objects and space events, and their effects across all domains. The project will support the NATO’s Space Centre […]

UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace Speech at Defence Space Conference 2020
18 November 2020

Defence Secretary Ben Wallace talks about transforming in the new Space Age.

Good afternoon, it’s a great pleasure to speak to you at the end of what has clearly been a fascinating and wide-ranging conference.

The variety of speakers – over 45, from the UK and overseas, and military and civilian sectors, as well as academia and private industry – shows just how important space is, right across today’s society.