The UK’s National Security Strategy 2025 (NSS) marks a bold and necessary inflection point: a decisive pivot to harden national resilience, rebuild sovereign capabilities, and prepare for a more volatile and contested global landscape. Ambitious in scope and urgent in tone, the strategy signals intent—but as every strategist knows, intent without execution is inertia.
A credible national strategy must rest on three pillars: a clear goal, committed resources, and an execution model that translates ambition into outcomes. The NSS articulates two of these. It defines a triad of strategic priorities—security at home, strength abroad, and sovereign advantage—and commits to raising security spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. This is a historic financial pledge. Yet in real terms, it may only cover the cost of current crises and existing commitments—not the future capabilities the UK must build.
Nowhere is the execution gap more urgent than in the space domain.
Space: The Strategic High Ground
Space underpins every facet of national security—from intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) to encrypted communications, navigation, and early warning systems. The NSS rightly acknowledges this. What it lacks is the delivery infrastructure to convert recognition into enduring operational advantage.
This is where the UK’s space-focused SMEs must play a central role.
British SMEs—defined as companies with fewer than 250 employees and under £50M turnover—are already delivering across mission-ready domains: small satellite manufacturing, launch services, in-orbit servicing, ISR, quantum-enabled mesh networks, and more. These are not start-ups. They are agile, mission-driven enterprises capable of operating at the speed of 21st-century threats.
Yet despite their relevance, many remain under-leveraged—held back by outdated procurement models, fragmented leadership, and a risk-averse culture that favours incumbents over innovation.
From Strategy to Advantage: Unleashing SME Potential
To shift from strategy to sovereign advantage, this must change. SMEs offer unique strengths the UK cannot afford to underutilise:
- Speed: Development cycles driven by mission imperatives, not bureaucracy.
- Agility: The ability to pivot as threats evolve.
- Innovation: Fresh thinking that challenges institutional inertia.
- Readiness: Many solutions are deployable now—no need to reinvent the wheel.
Yet structural barriers persist: complex procurement processes, prohibitive security costs, inconsistent payment cycles, and contracts burdened with vague requirements and restrictive IP clauses. These friction points dilute the very agility the UK needs.
For many SMEs, the defence market is high-risk, high-overhead—especially in space. Few can deliver end-to-end solutions alone. Ecosystem collaboration is essential. SMEs must partner to deliver multi-supplier operational capabilities. But this adds further overhead—one that should be recognised and supported by MOD project and procurement teams through increased supplier awareness and technical engagement.
Reforming for Resilience
The MOD must act decisively to remove these barriers and build a sovereign space capability across the full spectrum of space operations. This means:
- Simplifying SME access to defence opportunities.
- Articulating clearer, actionable problem statements.
- Assigning accountable ownership for delivery—not just activity.
- Challenging outdated assumptions that commercial space tech is unfit for defence.
In truth, many modern space technologies are dual-use by design. The convergence of commercial and defence utility should be embraced—not dismissed. But this must not shift risk and development costs onto industry without a corresponding shift in MOD’s procurement appetite and risk calculus.
A Call to Action
To unlock the full value SMEs can deliver, system-level reform is essential:
- Dedicated SME pathways with clear problem statements and real procurement authority.
- Flexible funding for early- and mid-stage innovation.
- A coherent delivery framework that unites government, agencies, and industry around a shared mission.
Sovereignty is not declared, it is built. And building it demands urgency, clarity, and true partnership.
