Satellite will detect people smugglers and migrants from space

The Amber 2 satellite will also help locate sanctions-busting oil smugglers, drugs trafficking and illegal fishing

Horizon Technologies satellite

A satellite will be deployed to help track people smugglers and migrants crossing the English Channel, the head of the company behind the technology has told The National, as the UK steps up efforts to crack down on criminal gangs controlling the operations.

The Amber-2 Maritime Domain Awareness Satellite will also help to detect ships that try to conceal their position at sea by turning off their location beacons, known as “dark vessels”.

The technology will additionally be used to target drug smugglers, illegal fishing and oil smuggling – evading sanctions by tankers from countries such as Iran, Russia and China.

On Monday, British Prime Minister Keir Starmer touted international co-operation to tackle people smuggling and said he would push to regain access to the EU’s real-time intelligence-sharing networks during talks in Hungary later this week. He announced an increase in spending to tackle the problem, up to £150 million, part of which would be used to fund high-tech surveillance equipment and 100 specialist investigators who will target criminals engaged in people smuggling.

More than 31,000 migrants have arrived in the UK this year after crossing the Channel, while 50 have died. The total includes more than 5,400 who took the journey in October, making it the busiest month of the year so far for crossings. A further 430 arrivals were recorded by the Home Office in the first two days of November.

Detection

The satellite has been developed by UK-based firm Horizon Technologies and works by detecting radio frequencies to locate a vessel’s position from satellite phones and navigation radar being used on board.

John Beckner, the company’s chief executive, told The National the technology can be applied to detect small boats in the English Channel.

“When it comes to the people crossing the Channel, I had always believed that they just have mobile phones, like you and I have, but it turns out that is not necessarily the case,” he said.

“They have satellite phones. We have evidence that there's sat phone use over the English Channel and we are working with the UK government to monitor these satellite phones.”

Mr Beckner said it was unclear what the phones were being used for but he suspects it is to communicate with the people smugglers.

He said the technology used in the satellite is essentially the same as the FlyingFish and its follow-on Blackfish products, which have been deployed in the Mediterranean to help with the rescue of migrants crossing to Italy from North Africa.

The radio frequency-detecting kit was fitted into aircraft flown by the EU borders agency Frontex, and Nato. Horizon Technologies says its technology has helped to save the lives of 200,000 migrants.

People smugglers give migrants a satellite phone in order to make contact with the Italian coastguard and Blackfish monitors the Thuraya, ISat and Iridium sat phone networks used to make the calls, said Mr Beckner.

“They would call up the coastguard and say ‘we’re drowning’ and the coastguard says ‘where are you’ but they have no clue,” he said. “So what the EU has done is they charter aircraft and UAVs to locate these emitters. So that’s how they get rescued.”

Some of the 600 migrants on a trawler rescued by Italian coastguards in the Mediterranean. EPA

Somalia experience

Mr Beckner is a technology entrepreneur from California who has been involved in aerospace for more than 30 years. He has also worked for various Republican members on the House Foreign Affairs, and Armed Services Committees.

He said a breakthrough in the technology's application came in 2014 when he was in South Africa trying to sell the government aircraft to hunt Somali pirates who were running amok in the Indian Ocean.

“That deal didn’t happen and instead I said ‘how do these pirates communicate?’ and a guy from a US defence contractor told me they talk on satellite phones,” he said.

He said that previously Nato aircraft “would be flying along with their radars turned on looking for pirates, and they wouldn't find any and the reason is because the pirates can detect radars”.

The pirates would detect radars from hundreds of miles away and be alerted to the presence of the aircraft hunting them, giving them time to pretend to be innocent fishermen.

“So what happened is that as soon as they started putting Flying Fish [technology] in an aircraft, basically, if they found a sat phone in the middle of nowhere, they would come up very stealthily and take pictures of it, before we showed up on the scene. So we helped shut down the piracy.”

The radio frequency detection hardware that will be in the Amber 2 satellite. Photo: Horizon Technologiet

The Amber 2 is set to be launched in July next year. It is a follow-on from the Amber 1, which was meant to launched by Virgin Orbit from its spaceport in Cornwall but the rocket crashed, destroying the satellite.

There is also a land-based system called AmberPersistent, which can collect radio frequency signals in an area of up 3 million sq/km with real-time 24-hour coverage for tracking vessels carrying out illicit activities.

The wider Amber Programme has been designed to meet the Maritime Domain Awareness requirements of the Royal Navy via the Joint Maritime Security Centre (JMSC) in Portsmouth. The UK Space Agency has invested £1.2 million in the project.

Matt Archer, UK Space Agency's Director of Launch, said the Amber-2 demonstrates “the UK’s leadership in advancing space-based solutions for global maritime security”.

“By detecting hard-to-track vessels, Amber-2 will play a pivotal role in safeguarding international waters from illegal activities. We’re looking forward to seeing the satellite launch next year, and to continuing our collaboration with industry on cutting-edge technologies that deliver real-world benefits.

“Supporting projects like the Amber Programme not only enhances security but also creates high-skilled jobs and fosters innovation across the UK.”