Four days in London from 2 to 5 November 2026 on military satellite communications: a focus day, three conference days, an exhibition, and a free pass for serving military and government delegates.
An annual conference and exhibition on military satellite communications procurement and resilience, organised by SAE Media Group (trading name of SMi Group) in London. The series dates from 1999, and the organiser calls the 2026 event its 28th year and presents it as a NATO-aligned SATCOM meeting for senior military, government and industry leaders from 45+ nations. The 2026 edition is a focus day on 2 November followed by three conference days, with an exhibition alongside. Attendance is by approved registration, not open sale.
2 to 5 November 2026: the focus day on Monday 2 November, then conference days on 3, 4 and 5 November (registration from 08:00 on the focus day, 07:30 on 3 November, 07:50 on 4 November and 08:00 on 5 November). Park Plaza London Riverbank (listed on the organiser's site as Riverbank Park Plaza), 18 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TJ, on the south bank of the Thames opposite Tate Britain.
SAE Media Group (SMi Group trading as SAE Media Group), a London conference company at India House, 45 Curlew Street, London SE1 2ND, with a defence and security portfolio. Its site lists defence, C-UAS, pharmaceuticals, utilities and aviation events, and its own C-UAS Hub and Loitering Munitions Hub.
700+ senior military, government and industry leaders from 45+ nations, an organiser figure for 2026. The organiser names Brazil, Canada, Nigeria, Singapore, Ukraine, the UK and the USA among delegations. Typical delegates are military communications and space commands, defence ministries and procurement agencies, NATO and allied staff, satellite operators, defence primes and satcom suppliers. A current attendee list and a past attendee snapshot are offered as downloads on the event page. Registrations need SAE approval.
Published roster on the official speakers tab as of 16 October 2026: 66 names (the organiser's overview says 80+ speakers), listed alphabetically by first name with role and organisation.
The agenda also shows an unnamed senior representative of Ultra Electronics on a High North panel.
The venue moves: the 2025 edition (the 27th) ran on 3 to 6 November 2025 at the Queen Elizabeth II Centre, according to a third-party listing, and 2026 is at Park Plaza London Riverbank. The 2026 headline figure is 700+ attendees against 1000+ on third-party listings of 2025 (organiser claims, not reconciled). New agenda content includes sessions on lessons from Ukraine, Japan's SATCOM policy, an Indian MoD technology evaluation framework, Seraphim Capital's panel on financing the orbital backbone, and Amazon Leo Government on tactical-edge resilience. The organiser also lists a Document Portal for post-event slides.
The organiser's theme is securing the battlespace through resilient military satellite communications. Focus day (2 November) covers deployed SATCOM: hybrid networks (Dstl), Canadian deployed capability, USSF SATCOM-on-the-move, lessons from Ukraine and Ukrainian R&D (Colonel Slyusar), a panel hosted by GSOA (media partner), NATO C2 governance and mission requirements. Day one (3 November) opens with the UK Space Command keynote (Air Commodore Whiteley) and a UK MoD keynote panel on procurement agility, then USSF growth and space superiority (Lt Gen Miller), French SATCOM, a COMSATCOM scaling panel and an allied cooperation panel. Day two (4 November) covers threats to space assets (Lt Gen Bythewood), a USSF strategic panel, High North and sovereign capability (Maj Gen Johansen), electromagnetic spectrum superiority, anti-jamming, SATCOM modernisation and a resilient communications panel. Day three (5 November) covers the Arctic (Brig Gen Cook), Japan and India policy, European sovereign space architecture, emerging constellations and hybrid multi-orbit panels. The database records the themes as: Military satcom resilience and protection; sovereign and allied capability programmes; commercial satcom augmentation of military networks; multi-orbit and hybrid architectures; anti-jamming and cyber defence; procurement roadmaps. Organiser themes include spectrum governance, hybrid architectures, High North operations, dual use technologies, COMSATCOM integration and emerging threats.
Special formats on record: Focus day preceding the main conference; exhibition alongside the programme; free VIP pass for active military and government personnel with a service email address. In practice that means a focus day (followed by three conference days); keynotes and 20 to 40 minute presentations; panels (including panels hosted by GSOA (media partner) and Seraphim Capital); sponsor sessions reserved for lead, gold and silver sponsors; a virtual briefing; networking lunches, tea breaks and receptions; and an exhibition. The organiser's overview does not describe matchmaking, and none is documented.
A drinks reception hosted by Airbus at 17:45 on 3 November (day one), and a networking reception hosted by Marconi at 17:10 on 4 November (day two). Afternoon tea on 4 November is sponsored by PA Consulting. The exhibition runs alongside the conference, and the focus day on 2 November is an add-on within the standard ticket.
GBP 3,397 per delegate for the conference plus focus day (standard price on the live booking page), which includes post-event access to approved presentation PDFs priced at GBP 99 and a 60-day Document Portal window. VAT treatment is not stated on the booking page. A conference-only ticket and a ticket without the PDFs are available on request through the SAE sales team. Active military and government personnel can apply for a free VIP pass for the main conference (3 to 5 November only); the focus day pass is requested separately from SAE. The free rate does not apply to industry contractors or reservists, needs a working military or government email address, and can end in refusal of entry or a requirement to buy a ticket. The database also records the earlier rate range of GBP 3,197 to 3,397, with 3,197 and 3,297 as earlier tiers that are no longer shown. Presentations alone cost GBP 699 (single user) or GBP 1,497 (site licence) for non-attendees. Orders within a week of the event must be paid by credit card.
Through SAE Media Group's speaker enquiry (a Speaker Information Request on the booking page, or the SPEAK button). No open call or fee schedule is published; the organiser publishes a Speaker Benefits page, and sponsors get reserved sessions. The agenda mixes government and military briefings with industry sessions that are labelled as sponsor sessions.
Through the sponsorship and exhibition enquiry on the event page, the SPONSOR button, or a downloadable sponsorship prospectus. The sponsor tiers on the site are Lead, Platinum, Gold and Silver, plus exhibitors and supporters. Prices are not published; the organiser directs enquiries to its sponsorship team on +44 20 7827 6000.
Published roster on the official sponsors and partners tabs as of 16 October 2026:
Military and government delegations, with satellite operators and defence suppliers as the paying side. The speaker list is weighted to armed forces and space commands (US Space Force, UK Space Command and Dstl, Canadian, Norwegian, Swiss, French, Portuguese, Japanese, Indian, Czech, Finnish and Ukrainian officers, NATO and EU bodies). Industry voices come from Airbus, Telesat, Viasat, MTN, Thales, Northrop Grumman, Rohde and Schwarz, Amazon Leo Government and smaller satcom vendors. No delegate breakdown by company type is published.
Press passes are generally not available: SAE says that, for privacy and confidentiality reasons, press passes are not available at its conferences except under exceptional circumstances. Enquiries go to the SAE London marketing team through the contact on its FAQ page.
None found in the sourced material beyond event listings and the media partner list. Listings of the 2025 edition appear on Satnews, Defence Industries (media partner), Space South Central and similar calendars; these are event announcements, not reporting.
Coverage placed by the 19 official media partners and two supporting partners (Via Satellite, Microwave Journal, Defence Industries and others, each a media partner) is placed coverage, not independent reporting. No independent reporting on the 2026 edition was found. Because press passes are normally refused, journalists cannot easily attend to report independently, which makes the speaker list and the organiser's own figures the main public record.
Anyone outside military satellite communications: the programme is almost entirely about SATCOM capability, resilience and procurement. Industry delegates who want to meet government buyers should expect a GBP 3,397 ticket and an approval step, and industry contractors cannot use the free pass. Journalists without an exceptional case will not get a press pass. A reader who wants a vendor-neutral technical programme should note that several slots every day are marked as sessions reserved for sponsors.
It is SAE Media Group's autumn defence space fixture in London, in the UK-Ireland region, held in the first week of November, and the organiser says it is the annual forum where ministries of defence outline capability gaps and procurement priorities. SAE also runs other defence events in its Defence and Security programme. No sourced comparison with other space conferences is available.
None found. The 2025 edition (27th) and the 2026 edition (28th) were or will be held in London.
English. SAE Media Group states that all of its conferences and materials are delivered in English.
Not remotely: the event is in person, apart from one virtual briefing in the agenda. Afterwards, delegates receive a Document Portal login with approved speaker presentations and profiles for 60 days (slides appear on the portal from the second day of the conference); some speakers decline to release slides. Non-attendees can buy the presentations for GBP 699 (single user) or GBP 1,497 (site licence). No video replay is mentioned.
SAE's delegate terms allow a substitute from the same organisation at any time before the event. If no substitute is sent, SAE refunds or credits 50% of the fee when the cancellation is received in writing at least 28 days before the event start, which for this edition is by 5 October 2026 and has passed. Later cancellations are not accepted and the full fee stays due, although the delegate still gets Document Portal access. If SAE cancels, it refunds in full within 14 working days of a written request; if SAE reschedules or moves the event online, payments are applied to the new event at SAE's option.
SAE says it endeavours to make events as accessible as possible and asks attendees to tell it their requirements in advance, adding that venues are well equipped for all visitors. No venue-specific accessibility statement is published for Park Plaza London Riverbank. Contact the SAE events team before registering.
Park Plaza London Riverbank is at 18 Albert Embankment, London SE1 7TJ, opposite Tate Britain. The organiser's pages give no transport directions. Third-party sources put Vauxhall station (Victoria line) at about 8 to 9 minutes on foot, with Lambeth North, Westminster and Waterloo further away (14 to 21 minutes depending on the source). The organiser books hotel rooms itself and warns delegates against third-party room-booking offers.
Because it puts serving officers and the suppliers who sell to them in one room, and the pricing is built for that: a GBP 3,397 industry ticket against a free pass for serving military and government personnel. The 2026 speaker list is weighted to armed forces and space commands, including the US Space Force, UK Space Command, NATO and European Defence Agency staff, so the paying side is buying proximity to buyers. The 19 media partners and the sponsor tiers show who funds that proximity.
Because the organiser's own numbers do not line up. The overview claims 80+ speakers, but 66 names are published; it claims 700+ attendees, while third-party listings of the 2025 edition said 1000+; and the speaker roster includes many sponsor employees on slots labelled as sponsor sessions. None of these counts is audited, and press passes are normally refused, so independent checking is limited.
Official site: https://www.smgconferences.com/defence/uk/conference/global-milsatcom (live and matching the organiser, SAE Media Group; checked 16 October 2026). Booking: https://www.smgconferences.com/defence/uk/conference/global-milsatcom/booknow. Terms: https://www.smgconferences.com/privacy-legals/terms-conditions/. FAQs: https://www.smgconferences.com/faqs. Contact: events@saemediagroup.com, +44 20 7827 6000.