UK has 'new pair of eyes' in space after military satellite Titania enters orbit

The UK has a "new pair of eyes" in space after it launched a new military satellite into orbit, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) has announced.

Titania is the second to go into service after the launch of Tyche in 2024 and two more are planned.

Defence Secretary Wes Streeting said the satellites would mean British forces "can see threats sooner, making the UK safer".

About the size of a washing machine and around 100kg, Titania travels 27,000km/h and orbits the Earth every 90 minutes. It was launched last month on a Space X rocket from California.

The satellites will be operated by the UK Space Command, headquartered at RAF High Wycombe.

As well as looking down on Earth, the MoD is also trialling a network of sensors to monitor space from three sites around the world - a project it's calling Inaros.

"The ability to observe the Earth from space is critical to both national resilience and military advantage," said Air Chief Marshal Sir Harv Smyth, the chief of the air staff.

"This will be demonstrated by Tyche and Titania, alongside Juno and Oberon in the years ahead," he added.

"We will monitor these vital satellites using state-of-the-art technology around the world, including our Inaros sensors - to ensure our Armed Forces can fight and win wherever they are."

Titania was designed and built in Hampshire by the partnership of Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) and BAE Systems.

The defence secretary stressed that Titania and Inaros are "British-built and British-designed" and "backed by more than £3bn of investment in space capabilities".

Mr Streeting said the projects meant "highly skilled jobs across the UK, a stronger industrial base, and a more secure United Kingdom".

The announcement comes soon after the unveiling of the UK's first space squadron.

Speaking in September, the RAF chief said space had "become a warfighting domain whether we like that or not".

That risk was illustrated last month when a Russian military satellite came dangerously close to a commercial satellite in what some experts believe was a rehearsal for an attack.

America recently confirmed for the first time it had deployed weapons in space to guard against "hostile adversary action".

President Trump also wants to build a "Golden Dome" missile defence system made up of ground systems and "space-based sensors and interceptors".

(c) Sky News 2026: UK has 'new pair of eyes' in space after military satellite Titania enters orbit