UK Galileo engineers forced to move to EUROPE as EU blocks British from project

Surrey Satellite Technology (SSTL), an independently operated subsidiary of aerospace company , took the decision in order to carry out a vital classified test on the navigation payload which it supplies to Galileo once Britain quits the bloc on March 29, 2019.

Brussels is planning to cut Britain’s access to the secure elements of Galileo, arguing EU law prevents non-member countries from using the system’s encrypted navigation system.

The move has enraged the British Government – UK scientists were instrumental in developing much of the technology utilised by Galileo, while Britain has believe to have ploughed £1billion into the project.

Gary Lay, SSTL’s director of navigation, told the Financial Times: “We have put in place an arrangement to do the test on the Continent if we need to.”

He stressed all unclassified work would still be carried out at the company’s base in Guildford, while no UK jobs were at risk.

Work on accounts for half of SSTL’s annual revenues, and unless the dispute is worked out, the company’s latest contract to carry out work on the system will be its last involvement.

SSTL is not allowed to bid to provide the fourth set of satellites due to be launched under the umbrella of Galileo.

Mr Lay said: “For us it is the contract you would want to win.

“It is the first of a new type of satellites.

“In terms of Galileo, the UK’s involvement and expertise will diminish once Britain exits the EU.

“I haven’t personally given up hope for politics to clear up things up in some way.”

An SSTL spokeswoman added: “No engineers from SSTL will be relocated as we will be subcontracting the test work to a local specialist company. We have a shortlist of sites but we are not yet in a position to any further disclose details.”

The Government announced earlier this year it was investing £92 million into a feasibility study which will look at the possibility of developing a rival to the EU’s Galileo satellite system after .

Andrew Stroomer, business development director with Airbus Defence and Space told Express.co.uk in September he had “no doubt” his team of experts has the know-how to build a stand-alone satellite navigation system out of a facility which, together with other UK sites in Portsmouth and Newport in Wales, currently builds an impressive 25 percent of the world’s telecommunications satellites.

Meanwhile business secretary launched an angry broadside during a speech in Middlesbrough during the same month, saying: “The position of the European Commission hasn’t substantially varied.

“To cite as a reason for UK non-participation in effect that we can’t be trusted on security grounds is deeply insulting to the British people.

“Of all the areas in which our commitment to supporting our neighbours is unequivocal, it’s security, and we know that over many years we have had deep cooperation that has been hugely in the interests of citizens right across Europe.”

During his State of the Union speech, also delivered in September, European Commission President appeared to pour scorn on British plans to go it alone, saying: “No single member state would have been able to launch the sateillite that 400 million users round the world are benefiting from.

“Without Europe there would be no Galileo.

“We respect of course the British decision to leave our Union but we regret it deeply.

“But we also ask the British government to understand that someone who leaves the Union cannot be in the same privileged position of the member states.”