[pictured: Air Vice Marshal Paul Godfrey with Chris Rocks, Serco’s Director for Space and Security]
The Serco Fylingdales team received the ‘Space Team of the Year’ award in recognition of their 24/7 resolute support to space operations throughout the coronavirus pandemic. Like many businesses, Serco faced operational challenges due to illness related employee shortages.
At Fylingdales the Serco Shift Team and Day Staff combined forces to ensure they could always guarantee people were available to work the required shifts around the clock, despite many short notice changes due to the spread of COVID-19. The Ballistic Missile Early Warning is a strategic asset vital to both US and UK Governments and it is imperative that this service is not disrupted for any reason. Serco went above and beyond to ensure the continual service was protected at all costs. In addition to these extra measures, the team supported a major upgrade and subsequent training while maintaining full contractual compliance throughout. The nature of the mission at RAF Fylingdales means that contractual KPI’s are particularly stringent making this achievement all the more impressive.
UK Space Command is the Ministry of Defence’s lead for space operations, space workforce and space capability. Formed on 1 April 2021, UK Space Command is led by Air Vice Marshal Paul Godfrey. The one year milestone marks the completion of its initial development as an operational military command. Serco is one of six industry partners working closely alongside UK Space Command to support its rapid capability and workforce growth. Now in its second year, UK Space Command will continue to deliver on the UK’s Space Programme outlined in the Defence Space Strategy from February 2022.
Chris Rocks, Serco’s Director for Space and Security said: “RAF Fylingdales plays a vital role in defence of the UK and US as part of the Ballistic Early Warning reporting chain. We are incredibly proud to offer our continuing service to the MOD and DoD in the support of this critical asset. We are delighted that both the MOD and RAF continue to have confidence in our ability to deliver a high quality service. This is an important contract for us and our continued success is down to the hard work and professionalism of all those who work at this critical station on the North Yorkshire Moors.”
“It was my recent pleasure to present a small gift from the Serco Space team to AVM Paul Godrey to celebrate the formation and an exceptional first year of UK Space Command.”
RAF Fylingdales is considered one of the key components of UK national security providing Ballistic Missile Early Warning Operations for more than 57 years. Serco is the only contractor to have continuously operated and maintained the facility, despite 11 competitive tender exercises. Some of the existing Serco team have been supporting RAF Fylingdales since the very beginning, while Serco as a company has provided continuous support on site since its formation in 1988.