With the announcement of the newUK Space Strategy 2026, Britain has formally recognized that space is now a contested military domain. Nevertheless, recognizing the threat is not the same as acquiring the means to confront it. It puts defense and national security ahead of everything as the first of its two outcomes. It names control of space as a strategic requirement and a component of national power — in plain terms, protecting and defending U.K. interests in, from and through space. It also makes a useful industrial shift, moving to fewer, higher-value awards and acting as an anchor customer through the new Enterprise Space category, backing companies with flight heritage and a route to market rather than spreading thin grants across the field. Each of those is the right call; the sector is right to welcome them.
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