Skynet 5

Skynet is a family of military communications satellites, now operated by Astrium Services on behalf of the UK Ministry of Defence, which provide strategic communication services to the three branches of the British Armed Forces and to NATO forces engaged on coalition tasks. The satellites were operated by Paradigm Secure Communications until October 2012 when the organisation was rebranded to Astrium Services.

In the 1960s satellites became an increasingly important component of signals intelligence (SIGINT). Only two countries utilized satellites for signals and military intelligence, the United States and the Soviet Union, and as a consequence the United Kingdom created Skynet as its own military communications satellite. The Skynet satellite also provided secure and encrypted facilities for the British armed forces. The largest user of the Skynet satellites was the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), who were responsible for more than 80% of the communications traffic that was subsequently returned to the United Kingdom. Despite the enormous communications capability of Skynet, GCHQ still found the capacity provided by Skynet to be inadequate. In 1972 GCHQ was still the satellite's largest funder, and argued for the purchase of an American built Type-777 satellite instead. GCHQ would later plan their own satellite, Zircon, which was subsequently cancelled. The circumstances around the reporting of Zircon's existence would become known as the Zircon affair.

The Royal Air Force displayed a model of the Skynet satellite on the children's television show Blue Peter in 1969, the show also described the new British satellite control centre at RAF Oakhanger.

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