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National Cyber Force
A specialized cyber force of several hundred British hackers has been in the works for almost three years, although its creation has been slowed in part by turf wars between the spy agency GCHQ and the Ministry of Defense, which is expected have the unit report jointly. .
The idea behind the new unit is to bring greater visibility and coherence to the cyber offensive, a capability the UK claims to have had for a decade but which until recently has rarely been recognized or discussed. In early autumn, General Patrick Sanders, head of the UK’s strategic command, said the army already had the ability to “degrade, disrupt and destroy” enemies.
Past operations include hacking into Islamic State systems in 2017 to understand how the terror group was operating a low-tech drone capability in Mosul, which the military said allowed it to understand how the drones were purchased and how the operators were trained. .
Space command
The creation of a “space command” is a promise made in the Conservative electoral manifesto, and it comes at a time when major military powers are rapidly showing an interest in space, largely due to the need to ensure space. security of satellites in which it depends on critical communication and location systems.
The new UK Space Operations Center, based at RAF headquarters in High Wycombe, comes less than a year after Donald Trump announced the creation of a new space force, arguing that “space is the new domain war of the world “, and that maintaining American superiority over Russia and China was” absolutely vital. “
The UK’s plans are expected to be much less ambitious than those of the outgoing president, given that Britain’s capacity in space lags far behind that of the United States, Russia or China. Instead, the UK wants to develop a satellite rocket launch capability from 2022.
The space command staff will come from all three armed forces, but a former senior Whitehall member questioned whether the UK had the ability to make space command an effective reality. “Where are the people who will make this real? Are there cyber men waiting to be activated?
Artificial intelligence agency
The extra money in the review will also fund the creation of an artificial intelligence agency, the details of which were scant on Wednesday, such is the speed at which the defense spending announcement has been made.
It is unclear how this relates to plans devised by Dominic Cummings, while working in Downing Street, to create an advanced projects research agency along the lines of the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa). . Defense sources said it would be run by the Department of Culture, Digital Media and Sports.
Building a strong position in the UK in artificial intelligence is an obsession among the intelligence and defense community, in the belief that technology has long-term strategic value and the country must have its own capabilities. But little has emerged in the public domain.
At present, UK artificial intelligence efforts are coordinated by the existing Office for Artificial Intelligence, which was created as part of Theresa May’s 2017 industrial strategy, and is located within the business and culture departments.
