Britain’s £1 billion blind spot: How satellite sabotage could halt life as we know it
Britain is vulnerable to foreign sabotage of key satellite systems that underpin everything from mobile phones to banking.
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Professor Aled Catherall, the Chief Tech Officer at Plextek, told LBC that hostile states can disrupt Global Navigation Satellite Systems (GNSS) - which provide critical positioning and timing data.
The estimated cost of disruption, from Iran or Russia, to the UK economy would total £1 billion per day, he warned.
The satellite expert said Britain has become heavily reliant on the signals, not just for defence, but disruption could hit shipping, aircraft, farming, broadcasting, cellular networks and parts of the financial sector.
Imagine waking up and your phone says you’re in the wrong place - or cannot get a signal at all.
Mobile signal becomes unreliable. Radio and TV reception start to falter. You cannot access online banking. Messages take longer to send. Calls drop out.
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You order a taxi, but it is delayed because drivers cannot navigate properly. Your grocery delivery slot disappears because vans are running late and routes are in chaos.
Aircraft and ships are face disruption, crippling trade, while public transport services are slowed by navigation problems.
Prof Catherall added: "most people think of GNSS as providing position, but actually it’s critically important for keeping time as well."
That timing function satellites provide is essential for systems that need to stay closely synchronised across the globe, including communications, financial trading and travel.
The threat from foreign sabotage comes from targeting the signals those satellites send down to Earth, rather than attacking the satellites themselves.
Because of that weakness, adversaries can interfere with them using electronic warfare capability.
