Cambridge Aerospace to deliver Skyhammer air defence systems to MoD
In a speech by Secretary of State for Defence John Healey, the Ministry of Defence has today announced that it is purchasing a significant number of Skyhammer air defence systems from UK-headquartered scale-up Cambridge Aerospace, with deliveries starting from May. The company has committed to delivering these units to the MOD in the next six months.
Image courtesy Cambridge Aerospace
Founded in late 2024, the company creates advanced air defence systems at a fraction of the cost of traditional systems. Their first product Skyhammer has a range of over 30 km with a top speed of 700 km/h, positioning it for intercepting a range of threats including Shahed-style drones and low-speed missiles such as those being seen across the Middle East.
The company started the development of Skyhammer in January 2025 and was into initial flight testing within six weeks. Since then, the product has undergone consistent, iterative testing taking place on a weekly basis to ensure it is able to counter a range of threats and integrate with a wide range of sensors to provide a rapidly deployable layered air defence system.
Recent testing delivered consistent successful interceptions of Shahed-style drones in a variety of conditions, with the autonomous platforms identifying, tracking and intercepting the target.
The company’s rapid scaling means they now employ over 125 people in highly skilled jobs, across the UK, with a growing presence across Europe. The company is also scaling its manufacturing capacity at speed with a second production facility currently undergoing final fit out to ensure that the product is delivered at the pace required to defend the UK and our allies.
Defence Secretary John Healey MP said: “We are applying the approach for UK support to Ukraine and accelerating contracts with the most innovative British businesses to rapidly expand support to Gulf partners and equip our own forces with anti-drone tech.
“Our government backing for Cambridge Aerospace is a prime case of a veteran-founded UK defence start-up scaling at pace to deliver new interceptor missiles within weeks for our Armed Forced and Gulf partners, and good jobs and security here in the UK.”
Steven Barrett, CEO of Cambridge Aerospace said: “With aerial threats to the UK and our allies increasing by the day, it is critical that we can defend ourselves effectively. Skyhammer was designed to do exactly that – bringing affordable mass to protect our skies. We welcome the Government’s commitment to supporting UK air defence with scalable, sovereign solutions.”
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