Starmer unveils Defence Investment Plan
The plan includes £15bn to boost the UK’s defences, but Defence Minister Luke Pollard told the BBC the next chancellor will need to find an extra £4.7bn.
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s edition of The View from Space.
🔸 The BBC reported that the UK Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer unveiled his defence investment plan – but that it short of the £28 billion reportedly demanded by defence chiefs and former defence ministers John Healey and Al Carns:
‘The long-awaited plan announced on Tuesday includes £15bn to boost the UK’s defences, but Defence Minister Luke Pollard told the BBC the next chancellor will need to find an extra £4.7bn in this autumn’s Budget to fund the proposals.
Sir Keir unveiled the much-delayed defence investment plan on Tuesday, ahead of next week’s Nato summit, which is set to be one of his final duties as prime minister. The plan, which is meant to ensure the UK’s forces are ready for future conflicts, will see defence spending increase by £15bn between now and 2030. …
The Treasury has only been able to identify £10.3bn in savings to fund the plan, with the remaining £4.7bn to be set out in the next Budget. [Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch] said that, in the past two years, the UK had only increased spending by 0.01% compared to its allies and Sir Keir’s plan “didn’t add up”.’
🔸 Britain’s ‘drone ambitions and its space capability must move in step’, argued Satellite Applications Catapult, the government-backed innovation centre made to help businesses unlock the potential of space tech:
‘The publication of the Defence Investment Plan, with £5 billion of new funding directed at unmanned capability, recognises that this is now a permanent feature of how Britain defends itself. It also presents a real opportunity for the UK to become a leading player in the wider drone economy, military and civilian alike.
What’s less visible is that this is also, in large part, an investment in space. The DIP commits to £2.3 billion in spending on satellite communications by 2030, recognising that space is “the central nervous system of modern, high-intensity warfare, rather than just a supporting domain.”
Future operations are increasingly being built around networks that link autonomous systems on land, at sea and in the air with satellites, ships and aircraft – turning individual drones into part of a coordinated, intelligent system. As former defence minister Tobias Ellwood observed this week, drones and space aren’t really two separate technologies; they’re two ends of the same one.’
🔸 SpaceNews reported that Starliner’s problems stem from ‘overconfidence’:
‘The report by NASA’s Office of Inspector General, released June 30, adds to the uncertainty about when Starliner will be approved for crewed missions to the International Space Station despite optimism from Boeing’s chief executive. Starliner has not flown since its Crew Flight Test, or CFT, mission two years ago, which suffered thruster malfunctions and other issues that led NASA to return the spacecraft to Earth uncrewed. The NASA astronauts who flew on Starliner to the ISS remained there until March 2025, returning on a Crew Dragon.
The OIG report said the problems with that mission, as well as two previous uncrewed test flights, had three underlying causes. “NASA was overconfident in Boeing’s design and potential success based on the provider’s use of heritage systems and its long-standing spaceflight experience,” the report stated, noting that NASA allowed Boeing to skip integrated testing of those systems.’
🔸 China is is ‘pulling ahead in global research rankings and expanding its ambitions in space’, reported DW, reshaping the global space race:
‘Space travel is just one of many fields worldwide in which China now holds a technological lead, according to Nature. The journal’s latest index of research leaders, which reveals the leading institutions and countries/territories, puts China in first place — well ahead of the United States and Germany.
Nine of the Top 10 research institutions were from China, with the US’ Harvard ranking third. Germany’s Max Planck Society (MPG), Germany’s preeminent research organization, ranked in 13th place. “It is now almost irrelevant which global rankings you consult. Universities and research institutions in China lead in many fields,” observed Christina Beck, spokesperson for the MPG.’
🔸 Rocket Lab acquired Iridium Communications, reported Ars Technica:
‘Beck said the deal provides a shortcut for Rocket Lab to enter the “space applications” business—that is, providing space-based services rather than launching the satellites that offer voice, Internet, and other communication services to customers on Earth. This is where the majority of revenue in the space industry lies.
“This is a deal where one plus one equals three,” he said. “One being Rocket Lab—we have unfettered access to space and the ability to build spacecraft at scale. We also do missions for people that matter. Then you think of Iridium, they have an already operational constellation; spectrum, and not just any spectrum but extremely valuable spectrum; millions of customers and they’re a profitable business. The result of these two things is a fully integrated, self-launching space superpower.”
Iridium holds a substantial chunk of L-band spectrum, and the company currently serves 2.55 million customers around the world. In addition to its telecommunications capabilities, the company is also developing a commercial position, navigation, and timing service as an alternative to GPS.’
🔸 Amazon Leo’s Atlas 5 mission launched, reported SpaceNews:
‘With this launch, Amazon Leo has more than 390 satellites in orbit. “Still lots of work ahead — including raising all these new satellites to their assigned altitude — but we’ve completed enough launches for initial service this year, and future missions just add coverage and capacity,” Chris Weber, Amazon Leo vice president, said in a social media post.
The launch was the last of nine Atlas missions that Amazon purchased from United Launch Alliance in 2021 for its broadband constellation, originally called Project Kuiper. The first was used for a pair of prototype satellites in 2023, and the other eight launched operational satellites starting in April 2025.
In 2022, Amazon announced launch contracts to deploy the full constellation, including with ULA for the Vulcan Centaur. Amazon acquired 38 Vulcan launches but has yet to use one given that rocket’s development delays and the availability of the remaining Atlas 5 vehicles.’
🔸 Payload Space said ESA and the European Commission released a call for proposals extending opportunities for institutional launch contracts to a wider array of European-built launchers:
The announcement invites European launchers to submit proposals for framework contracts, which will allow companies to compete for new missions under the Initiative. ESA and the EC will also assign launch contracts for the fifth batch of Flight Ticket Initiative missions, six of which are ready to go, according to the announcement.
The Flight Ticket Initiative connects satellite and payload operators looking to fly in-orbit demonstration missions with viable launchers able to take those missions to orbit. So far, four launch companies have been provided framework contracts to compete for these missions: Avio, Isar Aerospace, PLD Space, and Rocket Factory Augsburg. For the most part, these companies are already reaping the rewards of their selection.
Avio secured three mission contracts for its Vega C launcher;
Isar Aerospace has locked down two missions to fly on its Spectrum rocket;
Rocket Factory Augsburg won contracts for two missions through its RFA ONE launcher.
🔸 And finally, watch the Atlas V mission launch: