LONDON - Air Vice Marshal Harv Smyth, Head of theUnited Kingdom (UK) Space Directorate, joined DSEI Senior Defence Advisor, Air Vice-Marshal (ret’d) Gary Waterfall for an all-round conversation on the importance of the space domain for national security, his future priorities and the role of industry in the UK space race.
AVM Smyth stressed that space as a domain “is becoming more contested and congested” and laid out his priorities moving forward. These include creating a National Space Strategy which has both civil and military dimensions, turning proposals into deliverables and setting up Space Command in the first half of 2021. AVM Smyth also referred to the Defence Space Enterprise portfolio, a series of forward-thinking R&D programmes, to be launched within the next 18 months, which set up the foundation for the future.
Pointing out that the Outer Space Treaty 1967 is focused mostly on nuclear weapons, AVM Harv Smyth also touched upon the need to set norms and rules and create “new UN resolutions with regards to life in space”.
Industry is also set to play a key role in supporting the UK’s space race. To this end, AVM Smyth suggested that businesses should identify potential areas for international cooperation and carefully assess their access to key commercial markets based on the nation’s need for sovereign capabilities.
