PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. –
PETERSON SPACE FORCE BASE, Colo. - U.S. Space Command commander, U.S. Army Gen. James Dickinson, visited the United Kingdom, May 8-10, 2022.
Dickinson toured Royal Air Force Fylingdales and met with and U.S. and U.K.forces to discuss their mission as part of USSPACECOM's UCP assigned responsibility as the global sensor manager. RAF Fylingdales, located in Northern Yorkshire, provides continuous ballistic missile early warning service to the U.S. and UK, ensuring rapid missile warning to protect our homelands. As a key element of the Space Surveillance Network, the station is capable of tracking objects 3,000 miles into space, including live tracking of satellites (active and non-active), space debris, and parts of rocket bodies.
Also, Dickinson visited Royal Air Force Waddington to meet with UK personnel and discuss the integration of their mission with ongoing U.S. space operations. RAF Waddington is located in Lincolnshire and is one of the RAF’s busiest stations as the hub of UK Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition and Reconnaissance (ISTAR) and the main operating base for airborne intelligence aircraft and systems. Air ISTAR is the RAF’s eyes and ears in the sky and provides UK and NATO military commanders with critical information about activity on the ground, in the air, and at sea.
In addition to visiting critical units vital to the successful execution of overall global space operations, Dickinson spoke at the UK Defence Space Conference May 10. Dickinson primarily spoke on the importance of space to the U.S. and allied ways of life; the criticality of continued cooperation and collaboration in ensuring and maintaining the safety, security, stability, and sustainability of the domain through development and implementation of norms of behavior in space; and, his vision for the future of collaboration in space, and the application of the U.S. and UK's decades-long alliance as a model for future partnerships in space.
One month earlier, on April 6, 2022, Dickinson and Royal Air Force Air Vice-Marshal Paul Godfrey, UKSpaceCom commander, signed a Memorandum of Understanding concerning Enhanced Space Cooperation at 37th Space Symposium. The MOU aims to increase exchange of information, harmonize military space requirements, and identify potential collaborative studies, projects, or activities. Through these cooperative efforts, the U.S. and UK will continue to improve coordination and interoperability to maintain freedom of action in space, optimize resources, and enhance mission assurance and resilience.
USSPACECOM conducts operations in, from, and to space to deter conflict, and if necessary, defeat aggression, deliver space combat power for the Joint and Combined force, and defend U.S. vital interests with allies and partners.