The long-running annual gathering of military satellite communications programme owners and their suppliers, four days on the Albert Embankment bringing together senior military, government and industry from more than forty-five nations.
Global MilSatCom is the annual military satellite communications conference organised by SAE Media Group, held at the Park Plaza London Riverbank from 2 to 5 November 2026. It is the 28th edition. The organiser expects more than 700 senior military, government and industry leaders from over 45 nations, with more than 80 speakers. The format is a focus day followed by a three-day main conference, with an exhibition running alongside. Serving military and government personnel with a service email address can apply for a free VIP pass covering the main conference from 3 to 5 November; industry rates for the conference plus focus day ran from 3,197 to 3,397 pounds depending on booking date.
The industry pass costs over three thousand pounds. The military and government pass costs nothing. That is not a discount, it is the business model: the value of the event to a supplier is the presence of the people who own the programmes, so the organiser buys that presence by making it free and recovers the cost from the suppliers who want to be in the room.
The eligibility rule is enforced rather than nominal. A working military or government email address is required, industry contractors and reservists are excluded from the free rate, and the organiser reserves the right to refuse entry. That policing is what keeps the free tier from being gamed and, by extension, what keeps the paid tier worth paying for.
The recurring agenda is resilience: how military satellite communications survive jamming, spoofing, cyber intrusion and, increasingly, kinetic and non-kinetic counterspace action. Around that sit the national capability programmes, which are the reason delegations attend, and the growing question of how much military traffic should ride on commercial constellations rather than on sovereign systems. Multi-orbit and hybrid architectures, proliferated LEO for defence, and allied interoperability recur every year. Procurement roadmaps are the practical content: which nation is buying what, and when.
No. All registrations require approval from the organiser, and the free military and government rate requires a verified service email address. It is a defence event with a controlled attendance list.
It is held in London and the United Kingdom is well represented, but the audience spans more than 45 nations and the programme is built around allied and international capability rather than a single national programme.
The focus day precedes the main conference and takes a single subject in depth. It is priced into the higher pass and is optional for those taking the main conference only.
SAE Media Group, formerly SMi Group, is a British business-to-business conference company with a long-established defence portfolio. It also runs Military Space Situational Awareness in the spring, which makes it the organiser of two of the London defence space fixtures in the same year.
Twenty-eight years in, this is the room where national milsatcom roadmaps get stated out loud, and the reason the industry pass costs over three thousand pounds.
Registration runs through the organiser's booking portal. Published 2026 industry rates for the conference plus focus day were 3,197 pounds when booked by 4 September, 3,297 pounds by 25 September and 3,397 pounds thereafter, with conference-only rates also available and presentation PDFs sold separately at 99 pounds. Active military and government personnel can apply for a free VIP pass covering the main conference from 3 to 5 November, subject to holding a working military or government email address; the rate excludes industry contractors and reservists, and failure to provide a qualifying address results in refusal of entry. All registrations are subject to approval.
2 to 5 November 2026 at the Park Plaza London Riverbank, 18 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TJ.
Industry rates ran from 3,197 to 3,397 pounds for the conference plus focus day. Serving military and government personnel can apply for a free main conference pass.
The Park Plaza London Riverbank is on the Albert Embankment, a short walk from Vauxhall and Lambeth North, and about fifteen minutes from Waterloo. It is a straightforward taxi from London City and a direct rail run from Gatwick to Victoria.
Yes. An exhibition runs alongside the conference programme, with sponsorship and stand packages quoted by the organiser.
| Official website | https://www.smgconferences.com/defence/uk/conference/global-milsatcom |
| Registration and pricing | https://www.smgconferences.com/defence/uk/conference/global-milsatcom/booknow |