PARIS — Britain’s Ministry of Defence plans to construct a hangar-sized remoted chamber large enough for F-35 jets and Chinook transport helicopters to check its navy property in opposition to GPS jamming and different varieties of digital warfare.
U.Okay. agency QinetiQ will construct the “silent hangar” on the ministry’s Boscombe Down website in south-west England below a £20-million (US$ 26 million) contract, the ministry stated in an announcement Wednesday. The anechoic hangar is because of open in 2026 and can be one of many greatest in Europe, far greater than current services in Britain, the ministry stated.
Digital warfare has turn into a near-constant function of the conflict in Ukraine, the place Russia jams GPS frequencies to disrupt the accuracy of Western-supplied guided missiles, and each side use jamming to down drones. In the meantime, Russian jamming of GPS indicators across the Baltic Sea has been an everyday supply of disruption for civilian aviation there.
“Hostile threats jamming GPS to disorientate navy tools has turn into more and more widespread,” Minister for Defence Procurement and Business Maria Eagle stated within the assertion. “This cutting-edge check facility will assist us get rid of vulnerabilities from our platforms.”
The hangar can be used to check the integrity of U.Okay. navy tools with out the testing affecting different customers akin to emergency providers and air-traffic management, the ministry stated.
The chamber can be large enough to suit tools together with the F-35 jet, Chinook helicopter and the MQ-9B Protector drones operated by the U.Okay., in response to the ministry. The F-35 has a size of 15.7 meters, the Protector has a 24m wingspan, whereas the Chinook stands 5.68m tall.
“Not solely will this be one of many largest such chambers in Europe, however it is going to even be one of the vital up-to-date and high-tech on the earth, the place hostile environments might be safely recreated to place navy tools, akin to fighter jets and drones, by means of testing,” stated Richard Bloomfield, the top of Digital Warfare House on the UK’s Defence Gear and Help.
The remoted hangar will scale back reflections and the escape of radio-frequency waves, whereas GPS simulators and menace emulators within the chamber will be capable of create varied hostile environments to check how effectively tools can face up to jamming and different threats, the ministry stated.
With GPS jamming “effectively documented,” the brand new facility can be very important to assist preserve U.Okay. armed forces protected, Broomfield stated.
The conflict in Ukraine and China’s navy modernization have renewed curiosity in high-end digital warfare, and there’s catching as much as do, Worldwide Institute for Strategic Research editor Robert Wall wrote in August final yr. The U.S. Military has stated observations from the Russia-Ukraine conflict are driving its improvement of jammers, and the service is once more prioritizing digital warfare after many years of neglect.
Rudy Ruitenberg is a Europe correspondent for Protection Information. He began his profession at Bloomberg Information and has expertise reporting on know-how, commodity markets and politics.
