UK Defence Ministry and QinetiQ Launch Project Safari to Expand Smaller Firms’ Access to Military Testing

The UK Ministry of Defence and QinetiQ launched Project Safari on October 10, 2026, with a plan to make specialist military testing facilities easier to access for smaller businesses and companies entering the defence market. The programme is designed to replace fragmented routes into testing with a single point of contact and a simpler approval process for trials.

For developers of new equipment, getting access to a suitable test site can be as important as securing the funding to build a prototype. Project Safari addresses that practical obstacle. The partners say they want to shorten the time between an initial technology demonstration and the evidence needed to assess whether a system is ready for military use.

The announcement covers technologies such as autonomous systems, directed-energy weapons and hypersonic missiles. It does not, however, announce that every participating company will receive a contract or that every proposed test will be approved. The immediate change is intended to be in how businesses reach the expertise and controlled environments used to evaluate their work.

In its October 10 announcement, QinetiQ said the programme would bring government, industry and regulators closer together while updating test infrastructure and reducing unnecessary administrative steps. Defence Readiness and Industry Minister Luke Pollard described limited access to testing facilities as a barrier for smaller suppliers, while QinetiQ Chief Executive Steve Wadey said faster evaluation was needed to get useful capabilities into service.

A clearer route into military test ranges

Project Safari is being built around an existing network rather than an entirely new set of ranges. QinetiQ already operates Ministry of Defence facilities under its Long Term Partnering Agreement, which covers specialist testing and training services. Those sites provide controlled environments for examining equipment that cannot readily be evaluated in an ordinary laboratory or commercial proving ground.

QinetiQ says the programme is intended to serve established defence contractors as well as smaller suppliers and firms with little previous experience of the sector. Its Project Safari information page describes assistance ranging from the testing of individual components and early prototypes to the evaluation of complete systems. Potential areas include sensors, communications equipment and autonomous technology.

The existing partnership is substantial. According to QinetiQ, its range network covers 16 core MOD-owned sites in England, Scotland and Wales. In May 2025, the company announced a five-year extension to the arrangement worth £1.54 billion. That amount relates to its wider long-term testing and evaluation contract, not a funding allocation for Project Safari.

For a smaller supplier, a more direct route to the right range and technical specialists could reduce the cost of finding out whether a product works in realistic conditions. The potential benefit is particularly relevant where an evaluation requires access to restricted airspace, weapon-testing facilities or specialist measurement equipment. A simplified entry process would not remove the need for appropriate safety and regulatory approvals.

The ministry and QinetiQ have not published a comprehensive list of Project Safari application charges, guaranteed processing times or individual sites that will accept new users first. As a result, the announcement establishes a direction for access reform, but does not yet provide a measurable timetable for how quickly an applicant could progress from its first inquiry to an approved trial.

Hebrides agreement moves hypersonic testing plans forward

Alongside the programme launch, Pollard visited MOD Hebrides in Scotland, described in the announcement as the UK’s largest weapons test range. There he signed an agreement with QinetiQ covering the first design stage of a multimillion-pound investment intended to support future testing of hypersonic missiles and other advanced technologies.

The distinction between design and delivery is important. The parties announced initial planning work, not the completion of a new hypersonic testing facility. They did not provide a final construction cost, an opening date or a schedule for operational trials under the proposed upgrade. The investment also should not be confused with a cash award to smaller companies participating in Project Safari.

The Hebrides range already supports complex weapons trials and in-service firings, including ground-based air-defence evaluation. Developing additional test capability at an established military site is therefore consistent with the programme’s wider focus on improving access to specialised infrastructure, although the new agreement is a distinct piece of work.

Pollard and Wadey also met representatives of smaller defence businesses, including Greenjets and Cambridge Aerospace, to discuss problems encountered when seeking access to test and evaluation services. Pollard separately met Oxfordshire-based MGI Engineering, a participant in Project Brakestop that is developing low-cost long-range weapons for Ukraine. The visits were described as engagement with industry, not as announcements of new Project Safari contracts for those companies.

The technology areas named by the partners point to the breadth of testing requirements facing the defence sector. A drone or sensor might need to be examined in an operationally representative environment; a complex weapon can involve much more specialised facilities and approvals. Project Safari’s common entry route is meant to make that range of expertise easier to find, rather than make the underlying testing demands disappear.

The spending target is broader than Project Safari

The launch fits within the government’s existing commitment to direct more defence work toward small and medium-sized enterprises. The Ministry of Defence’s SME action plan sets out a target to increase annual spending with smaller firms by £2.5 billion by summer 2028, above a baseline of roughly £5 billion. That would bring annual spending to around £7.5 billion if the target is met.

Those figures describe the ministry’s overall ambitions for smaller suppliers. They are not a newly approved £2.5 billion Project Safari budget, and the launch announcement does not specify a separate pool of grants or procurement awards for firms using the programme. Testing access and purchasing decisions remain different parts of the route to becoming a defence supplier.

The ministry says it already works with approximately 12,000 small and medium-sized businesses through its supply chain. Its action plan also notes that most SME spending is indirect, flowing through larger suppliers rather than through contracts awarded directly by the department. Opening technical facilities to companies earlier in the development process could therefore be relevant to businesses hoping to work either with the MOD itself or as subcontractors to established contractors.

Access is not the only hurdle. Small firms must still demonstrate that equipment performs as claimed and meets the requirements of prospective customers. The government’s broader reform agenda includes reducing repetitive paperwork, improving the visibility of opportunities and making the route into defence procurement easier to navigate. Project Safari addresses the testing part of that problem, not the entire procurement process.

There is an additional near-term milestone in the wider testing programme. In a written parliamentary answer on October 6, Pollard said the MOD and QinetiQ had introduced a Test and Evaluation Innovation Gateway and that a separate Test and Evaluation Marketplace was expected by the end of 2026. The government described the marketplace as a way to connect users with suitable facilities and services across defence and the private sector. It did not say the marketplace and Project Safari were the same programme.

For companies considering whether to use the new route, the next useful details will be the practical terms: which facilities are available, how approval decisions will be made and what users must pay. Neither the initial Project Safari release nor QinetiQ’s published programme description sets out those conditions in full.