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Security at the frontier

UK–Japan perspectives on cyberspace, outer space, the Arctic and electronic warfare

Other resource Updated 7 April 2021 Published 31 March 2021 ISBN: 978 1 78413 462 4

Japan JAXA rocket launch carrying ASTRO-H satellite

Emily Taylor

Associate Fellow, International Security Programme

Alexandra Stickings

Research Fellow, Space Policy and Security, RUSI

Dr Aki Tonami

Associate Professor in International Relations and Economics, University of Tsukuba

Lieutenant General (Retired) Jun Nagashima

Senior Research Adviser, Nakasone Peace Institute

As middle powers with shared characteristics and outlooks, the UK and Japan are well placed to work together in a number of new security areas. This report draws on the Chatham House ‘Security at the Frontier’ conference to examine the latest developments in cyberspace, outer space, the Arctic and electronic warfare.

Further collaboration between the UK and Japan will allow both countries to learn from each other’s experiences in dealing with challenges in these new frontiers, such as cyberattacks, and ultimately bolster the rules-based international order.

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Introduction

Increasing global connectivity has brought with it a new range of security threats that were unfathomable just decades ago. Global reliance on the internet and on virtual networks has revealed a range of new cyber vulnerabilities and threats, including to critical infrastructure and the Internet of Things (IoT).

Cyber technology has brought with it a new security focus on outer space, which has become key to the functioning of national and international infrastructure on the ground. Furthermore, technologies using the electromagnetic spectrum, which are increasingly integral to military operations, create new challenges and adversarial threats including the prospect of electronic warfare.

These challenges have expanded geographically too, as countries explore new physical frontiers, like the Arctic, as regions of strategic interest. This conference report, comprising of four expert essays and a meeting summary, draws upon Chatham House’s December 2020 conference ‘Security at the Frontier’,1 to examine the latest developments in cyberspace, outer space, the Arctic and electronic warfare, and considers how best the UK and Japan might respond to these challenges.

See Chatham House (2020), ‘Security at the Frontier’, 10–11 December 2020, https://www.chathamhouse.org/events/all/research-event/security-frontier-uk-japan-perspectives.