The Defence Investment Plan (DIP) released by the UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) on 30 June 2026 fully acknowledges, as laid out in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review (SDR), that “space is a critical national infrastructure sector, and a domain of growing competition that is central to warfighting”.

In a 30 June online briefing to defence journalists prior to the publication of the DIP, an MoD spokesperson stated, “We’ve got GBP 880 million in this parliament on space-based ISR [intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance] and space control. Both of those areas we talked a lot about in our work around the DIP. It’s the recognition that this is a contested domain; it’s a domain in its own right. For years people have talked about space as an enabler; I don’t think that’s the language we’re using anymore. Space is a place where things are going to play out in their own right.

“So, we’ve got more money in space ISR in this parliament,” the MoD spokesperson continued. “We want to scale up the concept demonstrators beyond 2030. There’s more money that follows, a lot of money that follows in space ISR, but where we’ve made a slight rebalancing in this parliament is more towards space control. I probably can’t go into more on this on this line, but I think we recognise that space control particularly is an area that we want to put more funding into.”

The DIP itself notes that the UK MoD “will be more ambitious in delivering the space capabilities necessary to fight and win”, adding detail on how UK Space Command, a joint command first established on 1 April 2021 and headquartered at RAF High Wycombe, will be developed.

“The RAF is the lead service for space, and it will focus on the ability to deter threats to and protect our interests in space,” the DIP states. “To achieve this, Defence will be more ambitious in delivering the space capabilities necessary to fight and win. Through UK Space Command, the RAF will deliver a comprehensive joint force, which will sense, warn and deter threats while also building a skilled workforce that will be defined by a professional development pathway enabling progression from new recruit through to the leadership of Defence. As we evolve Space Command, up to six Space Squadrons will deliver these roles for Defence. UK Space Command will be supported by the National Armaments Director through a new Space Systems Group, which will cohere space operational requirements across Defence and catalyse the delivery of new capability to the front line at pace to deter emerging threats.”

The key investments in the space domain over the next four years, as outlined in the DIP, comprise GBP 2.3 billion on satellite communications and, as the MoD spokesperson noted, GBP 880 million on space-based ISR and space control.

The MoD adds in the DIP adds, however, that “Between 2030 and 2035 we plan to invest at least GBP 9 billion in new capabilities for the space domain to meet the vision set out in the SDR.”

Transformative space-based investments over the next four years that are outlined in the DIP include:

• Developing operational sovereign military space-based ISR capabilities;
• Investment in a Deep Space Advanced Radar Capability, which will deliver a global network of ground radars to enhance space domain awareness of objects in deep space and geospatial orbit and which will be operated jointly with the USA and Australia;
• Developing space control capabilities to enhance awareness of potentially hostile space activities and protect UK critical national assets in orbit;
• A new Integrated Air, Space and Missile Defence Operations Centre (IASMDOC), which involves a GBP 40 million initial investment to integrate the command and control of air defence and space operations to protect critical national assets in the homeland and in space. Initially responsible for delivering integrated air and missile defence capabilities, the IASMDOC will grow to protecting critical space-based services and satellites. This latter task, the DIP states, “will draw together military personnel, intelligence specialists, scientists, industry partners and academic researchers” and “will accelerate innovation and strengthen the UK’s ability to operate in an increasingly contested space environment while monitoring and deterring future threats”;
• A further GBP 50 million investment to extend the life of the in-service Skynet 5 military communications satellites, which will be replaced by new satellite communications capabilities to include the Skynet 6A satellite being developed and manufactured by Airbus Defence and Space UK, which is due to be launched by SpaceX in 2027.

This rebalancing of the UK MoD’s investment in the space domain will mean it will not proceed with the Skynet 6 Narrowband Satellite System, although the DIP states that this “is being offset by extending Skynet 5 and utilising modern technology through different procurement routes, including by investing in ‘space as a service’ options, alongside allies”.