RAF Oakhanger is a

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) an ...

station in

Hampshire Hampshire (, ; abbreviated to Hants) is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in western South East England on the coast of the English Channel. Home to two major English cities on its south coast, Southampton and Portsmouth, Hampshire ...

split over three operational sites; with accommodation in nearby

Bordon Bordon is a town in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It lies in the interior of the royal Woolmer Forest, about southeast of Alton. The town forms a part of the civil parish of Whitehill which is one of two contiguous villag ...

. The main site and operations centre is located near the village of Oakhanger, the two other sites being nearby. The parent station for administrative purposes was

RAF Odiham RAF Odiham is a Royal Air Force station situated a little to the south of the village of Odiham in Hampshire, England. It is the home of the Royal Air Force's heavy lift helicopter, the Chinook, and of the King’s Helicopter Flight (TKHF) . ...

History

RAF Oakhanger was the home of No. 1001 Signal Unit, responsible for supporting satellite communications services for the

British Armed Forces The British Armed Forces, also known as His Majesty's Armed Forces, are the military forces responsible for the defence of the United Kingdom, its Overseas Territories and the Crown Dependencies. They also promote the UK's wider interests, s ...

worldwide. The unit was made up of four sub-units: Space Operations, Ground Operations, Telemetry and Control, and Support; with subordinate detachments based at

RAF Rudloe Manor RAF Rudloe Manor, formerly RAF Box, was a Royal Air Force station located north-east of Bath, England, between the settlements of Box and Corsham, in Wiltshire. It was one of several military installations situated in the area and covered thr ...

RAF Colerne Royal Air Force Colerne or more simply RAF Colerne is a former Royal Air Force station which was on the outskirts of the village of Colerne in Wiltshire, England, and was in use from 1939 to 1976. The site is now known as Azimghur Barracks and ...

and

RAF Defford Royal Air Force Defford or more simply RAF Defford is a former Royal Air Force station located northwest of Defford, Worcestershire, England. History Second World War At the outbreak of the Second World War, Croome Court and its surrounding ...

. Command and Control of the system was conducted from Oakhanger, with a planning unit based at Rudloe Manor, co-located with No. 1 Signal Unit and Controller Defence Communication Network. The Colerne and Defford detachments provided a ground anchoring capability for the communications spacecraft. The Defford detachment was managed by the

Defence Evaluation and Research Agency The Defence Evaluation and Research Agency (DERA) was a part of the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) between 1995 and 2 July 2001. At the time it was the United Kingdom's largest science and technology organisation. It was regarded by its official h ...

, later QinetiQ. Space Squadron was responsible for flying a constellation of Skynet satellites, up to the fourth iteration of six space vehicles which supported

Army An army (from Old French ''armee'', itself derived from the Latin verb ''armāre'', meaning "to arm", and related to the Latin noun ''arma'', meaning "arms" or "weapons"), ground force or land force is a fighting force that fights primarily on ...

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against Fr ...

and

units. The space vehicles were controlled on a permanent basis from Oakhanger, with command and control traffic being passed from one of the three ground stations. Space Squadron also controlled the flight of space vehicles on behalf of

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two N ...

, with an earth station at the nearby NATO ground terminal. The constellation comprised

geosynchronous A geosynchronous orbit (sometimes abbreviated GSO) is an Earth-centered orbit with an orbital period that matches Earth's rotation on its axis, 23 hours, 56 minutes, and 4 seconds (one sidereal day). The synchronization of rotation and orbital ...

satellites, providing Earth coverage and higher-power coverage over Northern Europe. Ground services was responsible for routing traffic via the space vehicles, from a number of locations in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, to either stationary ground terminals such as

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwee ...

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is ...

Ascension Island Ascension Island is an isolated volcanic island, 7°56′ south of the Equator in the South Atlantic Ocean. It is about from the coast of Africa and from the coast of South America. It is governed as part of the British Overseas Territory of ...

and the

Falkland Islands The Falkland Islands (; es, Islas Malvinas, link=no ) is an archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean on the Patagonian Shelf. The principal islands are about east of South America's southern Patagonian coast and about from Cape Dubouze ...

, or tactical ground terminals, mounted in ships or vehicles. Tactical terminals were operated by the

Tactical Communications Wing 90 Signals Unit (90 SU) is based at RAF Leeming, North Yorkshire and provides information and communication services to deployed units of the Royal Air Force. History No. 90 (Signals) Group was formed on 26 April 1946 and had its headquarters ...

, 30 Signal Regiment, 16 Signal Regiment, 249 (AMF(L)) Signal Squadron, 264 (SAS) Signal Squadron, or the Royal Marines Signal Squadrons.

Current use

Support to British military satellite communications was outsourced to

EADS Astrium Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 1 ...

's subsidiary company—

Paradigm Secure Communications Astrium was an aerospace manufacturer subsidiary of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) that provided civil and military space systems and services from 2006 to 2013. In 2012, Astrium had a turnover of €5.8 billion and 18 ...

—in 2003, as a

Private Finance Initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 19 ...

. Paradigm Secure Communications is now known as

Airbus Defence and Space Airbus Defence and Space is the division of Airbus SE responsible for the development and manufacturing of the corporation's defence and space products, while also providing related services. The division was formed in January 2014 during the ...

. RAF Oakhanger is now used to support the Skynet 5 constellation and the

United States Space Force The United States Space Force (USSF) is the space service branch of the U.S. Armed Forces, one of the eight U.S. uniformed services, and the world's only independent space force. Along with its sister branch, the U.S. Air Force, the Space ...

Satellite Control Network The Satellite Control Network (SCN), operated by the United States Space Force's Space Delta 6, provides support for the operation, control, and maintenance of a variety of United States Department of Defense and some non-DoD satellites. This i ...

References

External links

Forces War Records -- RAF Oakhanger
{{United States Space Force Earth stations in England East Hampshire District Oakhanger Science and technology in Hampshire Space programme of the United Kingdom 1966 establishments in England

History

Current use

See also

References

External links