UK company Spaceflux has been contracted to develop and operate a ground-based SDA sensor as part of Project Nyx Alpha to monitor objects in GEO for UK Space Command. (Spaceflux)

The UK's Defence Science and Technology Laboratory (Dstl) is conducting three technology demonstrator programmes to explore the utility of novel space domain awareness (SDA) technologies.

The first programme is exploring the development of a Deep Space Radar (DSR) designed to monitor and protect geostationary orbit (GEO) assets such as the Skynet satellite communications system, William Feline, senior principal advisor for SDA at the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD), said at the Military Space Situational Awareness Conference 2024, held in London from 22 to 24 April.

The purpose of the programme is also to assess whether the UK needs its own DSR capability or whether it can rely on or complement the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) currently being developed alongside Australia and the US, Emma Kerr, senior principal engineer for SDA at Dstl told Janes .

A monostatic or biostatic system is being considered as well as whether a new or existing system is required, Feline said.

One of the first six Rafales to be delivered to Croatia. Deliveries of all 12 aircraft will be complete by mid-2025. (Dassault)

Croatia has inducted into service the Dassault Rafale combat aircraft it recently received from France.

The manufacturer announced the milestone on 25 April, saying the first six of 12 Rafales had been formally received into service by the Croatian Air Force (Hrvatsko ratno zrakoplovstvo i protuzračna obrana: HRZ i PZO).

Having been handed over to the Croatian Ministry of Defence (MoD) at the French Air and Space Force (Armée de l'Air et de l'Espace: AAE) base at Mont-de-Marsan in France in 2023, these initial aircraft were received into the 91 operational base near Zagreb in a ceremony that was attended by Croation Prime Minister Andrej Plenković and Minister of Defence Ivan Anušić.

With the Rafale to be operated by 191 Squadron, the first of the follow-on batch of six aircraft will arrive in Croatia by the end of 2024 to complete the unit by mid-2025.

For more information on the Croatian Air Force, please seeCroatia – Air Force .

Flyeye is a multiple-optics telescope with a very wide field of view that will be capable of classifying objects in space as small as 15 cm in LEO and 35 cm in MEO. The 6.5 m high and 4 m wide telescope will be used by the Italian Space Agency and military for SSA. (OHB Italia)

The Italian National Armaments Directorate (NAD) is procuring three ground-based sensors to enhance the country's space situational awareness (SSA), Janes learnt at the Military Space Situational Awareness Conference 2024, held in London from 22 to 24 April.

In total, two optical telescopes and one high-performance radar are being procured as part of its national SSA plans, Lieutenant Colonel Ferdinando Dolce, the head of SSA at NAD, said at the conference.

The first sensor being procured is a high-performance optical surveillance telescope from OHB Italia called Flyeye, Lt Col Dolce said.

Flyeye will have the capacity to monitor objects in low Earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO), and geostationary orbit (GEO), Commander of the Space Situational Awareness Centre at the Italian Air Force Colonel Dario Tarantino told Janes