UK Connect Defence wins Made in Britain recognition

UK Connect Defence has secured Made in Britain recognition, reflecting its focus on UK engineering and manufacturing for defence.

The Farnborough-based business received the recognition as it expands its in-house engineering and manufacturing of deployable communications, unattended sensing and edge technologies for military users.

It works with defence stakeholders to turn operational requirements into systems that can be tested and used in the field. This includes rapid prototyping, systems integration and trials. UK-based manufacturing also allows the company to refine and support products using feedback from military personnel.

Its work spans deployable connectivity and force protection systems, including unattended ground sensors, low-power wide-area networking and links with tactical command-and-control systems such as TAK.

Sovereign focus

The announcement comes amid wider debate in the UK defence sector over sovereign industrial capacity, supply chain resilience and how quickly new systems can move from development into operational use.

Professor Patrick Baker, Head of Science, Royal Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, Air Information Exploitation, said: "Maintaining strong sovereign engineering and manufacturing capability in the UK is increasingly important to defence. It is not simply about where technology is made, but our ability to experiment rapidly, work closely with end users, learn from evidence and translate innovation into capability that can be deployed and supported at pace."

"UK companies prepared to invest in those skills and capabilities have an important role in strengthening the UK's defence industrial base. Recognition through Made in Britain is a positive reflection of that commitment to UK engineering and manufacturing," Baker added.

Operational needs

UK Connect Defence describes itself as a British-owned rapid capability integrator focused on resilient connectivity, deployable sensing and systems integration for defence customers. Its model centres on working with military users and technology partners to shape systems around operational requirements.

PJ Farr, Founder of UK Connect Defence, said: "Achieving Made in Britain membership is an important milestone for us because it reflects something we're genuinely investing in: the ability to engineer, develop, manufacture and support defence capability here in Britain."

"Defence needs innovation, but it also needs speed, resilience and technology shaped around what military users actually need. We want to work alongside users, understand their challenges and turn the right technologies into practical, deployable solutions," Farr added.

UK Connect Defence is increasing investment in rapid prototyping, unattended ground sensors and repeatable systems intended for field use as it builds out its domestic engineering and manufacturing base.

Made in Britain is used by manufacturers that produce goods in the UK and want to identify domestic production. For defence suppliers, it can carry added weight as the Ministry of Defence and service branches continue to stress security of supply, supportability and closer alignment between developers and front-line users.

In that context, recognition for UK Connect Defence is likely to be seen less as a branding exercise and more as a marker of where it is placing capital and engineering effort: in Britain, close to the customer, and tied to systems designed for deployment rather than research alone.

Its current areas of work include unattended ground sensors, LPWAN-based networking and integration with TAK-based tactical command-and-control environments.