The Deane-Drummond Prize

In 2019 NATO declared space an operational domain and the US consider it a warfighting domain. According to the Blackett report of 2018, if access to space was denied, it would cost the economy £1Bn per day. This highlights the dependency on the space domain by governments, financial sector, agriculture, transportation and logistics, commerce, industry and the tech sector (including the internet). The reliance on space for ISR, C2, blue force tracker, JPR, SATCOM and various other capabilities showcase the current military dependency. Given the proliferation of commercial space technologies and lower launch costs due to SpaceX, the entry level for access to space based ISR and C2 is very low, meaning that almost all militaries now possess what was once exquisite capabilities. In Apr 2021 the UK established Space Command to recognise the increasing military reliance upon the space domain. The US Army has a dedicated 3* command - Space and Missile Defence Command (SMDC).

Discuss the key space capabilities that the British Army could develop to enable it to

fight in a multidomain manner. What are the advantages and disadvantages, where

are there synergies already and could SMDC offer a suitable model.

This year the competition had two phases, an essay submission that was narrowed down to the top 10, who then gave a presentation to bring their submission to life. With a top three winners for the Officer cohort and an overall winner for the WO’s.

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