Reflections on 2025 and the future of defence capability
Published 22nd December 2025
2025 has been a year of heightened geopolitical uncertainty, accelerating technological change and evolving customer requirements as risk has become an operational reality. Russia’s continued aggression in Ukraine, China’s sustained military investment, and the UK’s Strategic Defence Review have sharpened the focus on readiness, resilience and long-term investment across defence.
Against this backdrop, Cohort has made robust progress - reinforcing our capabilities, expanding our international footprint and deepening partnerships across the Group to meet the evolving demands of our customers.
Growth and innovation
Throughout the last 12 months, strategic investment and expansion have been central to driving the Group forward. The acquisition of EM Solutions marked a major milestone, enhancing Cohort’s position in naval satellite communications at a time when secure, resilient connectivity is critical to maritime operations. This was demonstrated in August when EM Solutions installed its King Cobra SATCOM system on the Royal Australian Navy’s HMAS Sydney marking a major upgrade in its naval communications.
Investment in facilities and infrastructure to support growth and delivery at scale has also played a key role throughout 2025. This included the opening of SEA Canada’s advanced manufacturing site in Ottawa, a new ELAC SONAR office in Italy, and further investment in ELAC’s new production and testing facility in Kiel, Germany, to support future growth across key international markets.
Ongoing innovation and capability launches have also driven growing interest from customers. For example, MCL’s new hyperspectral imaging capability can identify subtle variations invisible to the human eye and conventional cameras. The technology does not rely on infra-red radiation, so operators can use it to identify ‘cold’ objects, significantly enhancing surveillance effectiveness and situational awareness.
We’ve also welcomed new senior leaders across the Group, with Keith Norton appointed as Managing Director of MASS and Andy Smith as Managing Director of Chess Dynamics. At a pivotal moment for the defence sector, their experience and leadership will help accelerate growth, drive innovation and ensure we continue to respond effectively to our customers’ increasingly complex operational requirements.
Collaboration and partnership
2025 was also a year defined by collaboration and international partnership. We strengthened relationships with global primes and regional partners through a series of memoranda of understanding, including with Hanwha Ocean to pursue the Thai frigate and export shipbuilding programmes, and between SEA and ACUA Ocean to explore deployment of integrated ASW and ISR capabilities using uncrewed surface vessels. A strategic partnership between ELAC SONAR, Syllexa and Keltron further demonstrates the importance of collaboration for key programmes and long-term opportunities.
Alongside these strategic collaborations, we secured a number of significant contracts, including a £15.7m countermeasures contract and an extension to the UK Strategic Command’s Joint Command and Staff Training (JCAST) contract for MASS, as well as SEA’s multi-million-pound contract to supply 22 KraitArray underwater sensors to Liquid Robotics. MCL received an important order for counter-UAS systems. Chess secured a UK customer for its latest generation SeaEagle Digital Electro-Optical Surveillance System (EOSS-D) and EID signed a contact with Damen Naval for its Integrated Communications System for the Colombian PES frigate.
Together these successes demonstrate the Cohort Group’s ability to meet customers’ defence system needs as these evolve, driven by lessons learned from conflict, the growing investments of potential adversaries, and the possibilities created by new technologies. .
This capability was clearly demonstrated by our presence at London’s DSEI, where our businesses showcased their latest solutions across sensors and effectors, and communications and intelligence to the global defence community. Through customer meetings, delegate tours and media briefings, DSEI provided a valuable opportunity to demonstrate the Group’s technologies, services and expertise, and engage with industry colleagues and partners.
This year also saw Cohort plc awarded the prestigious Growth Business of the Year Award at the AIM Awards - a fantastic recognition of our commitment to advancing our capabilities, embracing new technologies and providing value to our shareholders.
Ready for 2026
The past 12 months have highlighted several trends that will shape defence over the coming years - the accelerating adoption of uncrewed and autonomous systems, the growing importance of secure and resilient communications, and the need to shorten development cycles through advanced training and synthetic environments.
At the same time, international collaboration has become more critical than ever. Customers need interoperable solutions that can be quickly deployed, maintained, and upgraded to retain the operational advantage.
With a growing international footprint and a clear strategic focus, we are well positioned to help our customers navigate their complex defence challenges and translate strategic intent into deployable capability.
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