UK Gov selects British space company Open Cosmos for £8bn comms framework

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Oxfordshire-based space company, Open Cosmos, has been selected by the British Government Commercial Agency (GCA) as an officially certified and vetted partner to provide satellite connectivity via its low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation, ConnectedCosmos, as the UK seeks to build its own sovereign connectivity architecture.

The TacSys (Tactical Communication System) framework procurement vehicle has an estimated value of up to £8 billion, mapped to a series of upcoming Ministry of Defence (MoD) contracts. Running until June 2034, TacSys will provide the framework through which innovative private sector technologies will be integrated into MoD-owned capabilities for the purpose of secure and resilient communications.

To achieve approved status, Open Cosmos’ proven satellite design and space mission delivery track record were evaluated against the framework's core criteria, demonstrating strong alignment with the MoD’s goals for high interoperability, rapid deployment, and national space sovereignty.

In an increasingly polarised geopolitical landscape, ConnectedCosmos will support the UK’s ambition to establish a resilient sovereign network, mitigating the risk of over-reliance on transcontinental mega-constellations. Similarly, through the use of its Optical Inter-Satellite-Links (ISL), the system is gatewayless and routes data directly between satellites without ever touching the ground. This provides a more secure network, avoiding potentially compromised subsea cables and hostile terrestrial infrastructure.

Commenting on being selected as an approved supplier to the TacSys framework, Rafel Jordà Siquier, Founder and CEO of Open Cosmos, said: “the British government recognises the need for a modern, sovereign-controlled satellite network over the UK, one which will not only deliver high speed connectivity, but one that offers secure data transfer and layered architecture options for future readiness. We’ve been working tirelessly to build capability that directly serves governments and maps to their specific needs, not a solution that has to be retrofitted for purpose. We want to meet users where they are, and our selection as a key partner in this programme is a stamp of approval that we are taking the right approach.”

ConnectedCosmos serves as a multi-layer LEO architecture, providing the sovereign space and data layer directly aligned with the MoD's £7.5bn investment in the Digital Backbone and Targeting Web. By integrating IoT sensing and broadband communications into a single orbital framework, ConnectedCosmos collapses traditional programmatic silos to deliver machine-speed data fusion. Within this framework, communication, data, decision making, and context come together for actionable insights and rapid response, within a closed, secure loop.

Open Cosmos’ LEO constellation combines point-to-point broadband with direct-to-device IoT, enabling governments to detect threats in real time and deliver actionable, space-derived intelligence directly into tactical networks, applications and decision-making systems.. In this way, ConnectedCosmos delivers an “active” resiliency service, to detect threats, monitor sovereign assets, and deliver real-time intelligence to the tactical edge - wherever they operate.