Open Cosmos has won approved-supplier status on Britain’s tactical communications framework, clearing its low Earth orbit network to carry Ministry of Defence traffic for the next eight years.
The Harwell, Oxfordshire-based company said the arrangement, made through the UK’s Government Commercial Agency, is valued at up to £8B and maps to a series of upcoming MoD contracts. It runs under TacSys, the Tactical Communication System framework that shapes how private-sector technology is folded into MoD-owned capabilities for secure and resilient communications through June 2034.
Terrestrial chokepoints are what the network is built to dodge. ConnectedCosmos, Open Cosmos’s LEO constellation, pairs point-to-point broadband with direct-to-device IoT links, and its optical inter-satellite links let traffic hop between spacecraft without ever dropping to Earth. The company argues that design keeps communications clear of compromised subsea cables and strikes on ground infrastructure.
Jorda Siquier, founder and CEO, framed the selection as sovereignty work. Britain, he said, needs a satellite network under national control that guarantees secure data transfer and layered architecture options for future readiness, not a commercial product retrofitted for defense. The approval lines the small-satellite builder up as one of the domestic suppliers feeding MoD-owned tactical communications.
