The Strategic Defence Review sends a strong signal about the growing importance of space to the UK’s national security, economy, and everyday life. It’s encouraging to see clear recognition of the role commercial innovation and dual-use technologies play in reshaping defence, as well as the urgent need to overhaul procurement to keep pace.
Building on this momentum, the space domain is rightfully identified as “a critical national infrastructure sector, a site of growing competition, and a domain central to warfighting.” From an investor and industry perspective, these insights underscore the huge potential and responsibility the UK has to develop resilient and sovereign space capabilities.
Key space recommendations include:
Investing in Resilience and Strategic Capabilities: MOD’s focus on enhancing military space system resilience, especially in space control and decision advantage, highlights the need for cutting-edge technologies that our portfolio companies are pioneering.
Elevating Space as a Priority Technology Portfolio: The new National Armaments Director’s mandate to foster closer ties across military, civil, and industrial space sectors creates a unique opportunity to accelerate innovation and collaboration, crucial for commercial space ventures.
Strategic Coordination Across Government: A reinvigorated Cabinet sub-Committee to align civil and military space strategy would maximize policy, operational, and capability synergies, opening pathways for start-ups and scale-ups to engage more deeply with government projects.
Future-Proofing Satellite Communications: Ongoing reviews of SKYNET 6A and 6EC ensure that UK satcom capabilities remain resilient and relevant, a critical area where commercial innovation can provide game-changing solutions.
Next-Gen ISR Development: Partnering to develop persistent intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities will underpin integrated air and missile defence, directly benefiting from private sector agility and innovation.
Cross-Government Collaboration on PNT Systems: Ensuring defence requirements shape resilient, space-based positioning, navigation, and timing (PNT) systems exemplifies the strategic value of coordinated innovation efforts.
The Strategic Defence Review’s ringfenced £400 million innovation fund and the creation of a Defence Innovation Organisation are key enablers to bring these recommendations to life. At Seraphim, we’re proud to support the start-ups and scale-ups driving these transformative technologies, helping them unlock private capital and scale globally.
While space is still carving out its full place within the defense strategy, this review signals a turning point. It’s now imperative that government, industry, and investors come together to act swiftly and decisively.
Together, we can ensure the UK not only keeps pace but leads in space-enabled defense, creating economic growth, technological sovereignty, and national security advantages that will serve us well into the future.
The Strategic Defense review sends a strong signal about the growing importance of space to the UK’s national security, economy, and everyday life. It’s encouraging to see clear recognition of the role commercial innovation and dual-use technologies play in reshaping defense, as well as the urgent need to overhaul procurement to keep pace. The creation of a new Defense Innovation Organisation and £400m ringfenced budget is a step in the right direction, alongside an emphasis on unlocking private capital. Crucially, the review also highlights the opportunity for defense-focused start-ups to fuel UK economic growth and the need to build stronger sovereign capabilities key space domains such as satcoms, satellite intelligence (ISR), and satellite navigation (PNT).
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