New battlefields: the reality of space warfare

Dr Bleddyn Bowen from the School of History, Politics and International Relations was interviewed by Forces Network for a special feature on the emerging threat of space warfare, Trump’s Space Force, and what Brexit means for the UK in space.

Forces Network, a TV and news service dedicated to the UK’s military personnel deployed at home and across the world, recently interviewed Dr Bleddyn Bowen from the University of Leicester’s School of History, Politics, and International Relations on military activities and international relations in outer space, including the prospects for space warfare and Donald Trump’s proposed Space Force.

In the interview, which was filmed at Leicester’s own National Space Centre, Bleddyn was able to share his views based on his cutting-edge research into the politics and strategy of outer space, and how military spacepower is changing the conduct of war and international relations. Bleddyn described the methods of conducting space warfare, the UK’s own military space systems, and the precedents and implications of the proposed Space Force by President Donald Trump in the United States.

He also discussed the implications of Brexit on UK space policy, a topic on which he has also provided oral evidence to the UK’s House of Commons Exiting the EU Select Committee. Throughout his research and media engagements Bleddyn stresses that modern warfare and economics cannot be conducted without space systems, and they are therefore a potentially lucrative target in a time of war and are systems that will likely be defended and retaliated against.

Bleddyn’s space warfare and astropolitics research informs his teaching at HyPIR, and is the basis of his third year undergraduate module PL3144 Politics and War in Outer Space. This provides a rare opportunity for students of humanities and social sciences to engage with the past and present of humanity’s activities in outer space, as space is not solely a realm of science, engineering and mathematics.

• Read the Forces TV article
• Watch the video report
• See Bleddyn’s range of publications on space warfare and astropolitics

Bleddyn can be found on Twitter at @bleddb, where he regularly tweets about astropolitics, defence, security, as well as Welsh and British politics.