Defense a key focus for new UK $10.6B, 4-year space spending plan

WASHINGTON — The United Kingdom today published a new 2027-2035 national space strategy centered on “defence, national security and economic growth,” accompanied by an interagency spending plan totaling “more than” £7.8 billion ($10.6 billion) through 2030.

The new strategy is putting top priority “for faster development” on four key space “subsectors:” satellite communications, space domain awareness, in-orbit servicing assembly and manufacturing (ISAM) and access to space — i.e., UK-based space launch.

These “have been selected for their growth potential, contribution to the wider economy, alignment with national security and defence priorities, and importance to building a more competitive and strategically focused sector,” the strategy explains.

The plan does not provide a total, nor all the details, of investment by the Ministry of Defence (MoD). However, the strategy and its accompanying technical annex [PDF] highlight several major development efforts, including:

• space domain awareness capabilities that are”nationally separable” from ongoing joint programs with allies;
• independent intelligence surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities;
• a “sovereign, resilient” positioning, navigation and timing (PNT) infrastructure; and,
• “novel space technologies.”

In particular, the strategy cements a UK government commitment to enabling MoD to achieve “space control” ― echoing US space policies and strategies.

“The UK must possess the capability to gain and maintain freedom of action and manoeuvre in, from, and through space; to protect and defend UK and allied space interests; and to deny adversaries the same freedoms – collectively described as the UK’s Control of Space Requirement,” the document explains.

“The UK will urgently develop an integrated, whole-of-government approach to delivering our Control of Space Requirement utilising all orbital domains and military, diplomatic, regulatory and legal levers to deter threats and protect UK and allied interests,” it adds.

The plan to deliver on this requirement, the document says, is for MoD and the Department of Business, Innovation, Science and Trade to “establish an integrated roadmap connecting civil and defence technology development” in ISAM, space domain awareness and space control, to be published in “forthcoming updates to defence space policy.”

The largest MoD investment detailed in the new strategy is a planned £880 million between 2026-2027 and 2029-2030 for ISR and space control “activities.” The technical annex elaborates that these funds will be spent on development of “sovereign” space-based ISR systems and the Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability (DARC) space monitoring project with the US and Australia, noting that DARC construction in the UK is set to begin next year. However, it does not break down the split between new ISR projects and DARC.

The strategy document pledges that by 2035, the UK will have a “secure, assured, UK-owned and operated, nationally separable ISR capability, prioritising technology, missions and infrastructure along with strong international relationships that enhance national security and economic growth by improving the UK’s ability to monitor security risks.”

But while the strategy details a number of planned civil agency investments in remote sensing capabilities to support ISR, including to support European Space Agency programs, it does not provide any information about MoD budgetary plans — except to note continued investment in the £968 million ISTARI program aimed at delivering a multi-satellite ISR constellation, together with future ground systems, by 2031.

As for space domain awareness activities beyond DARC, MoD is further tasked to work with a mix of civil agencies, including continuing support for the National Space Operations Centre jointly managed with the US Space Agency. It also is assigned to solely undertake enhancements to the Borealis command, control and data processing system for the joint center, including those designed to improve sensor tasking. (Borealis was initiated in May with a £65 million contract to CGI UK.)

While MoD has a role in developing ISAM capabilities, the non-defense UK Space Agency will be the primary investor in commercial firms, per the documents. According to the technical annex, the government later this year intends to publish “guidance in 2026 to support ISAM and lunar missions, incorporating RPO [remote proximity operations] sandbox findings to enable UK innovation in Active Debris Removal and ISAM.”

Likewise, on PNT, the technical annex shows that most development activities will be undertake by civilian agencies. However, MoD is to take a lead role in “concept studies for the technology required to deliver global timing independent of, and not susceptible to the same vulnerabilities as, GPS and other Global Navigation Satellite Systems.”

Finally, the strategy notes that MoD is planning to spend “at least” 10 percent of its “annual Equipment Programme budget on novel technologies,” including £420 million “to accelerate the delivery of innovative space capabilities.”