"A UK satellite to support military operations successfully launched into space last night.
Named Tyche, the satellite is UK Space Command’s first satellite which can capture daytime images and videos of the Earth’s surface.
The satellite will strengthen the UK’s Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (ISR) capabilities.
As the conflict in Ukraine has shown, the use of space is crucial to military operations. Tyche is the first satellite to be launched under the Ministry of Defence’s space-based ISR programme, which will deliver a constellation of satellites and supporting ground systems by 2031.
These satellites will not only support military operations, but also contribute to other government tasks, including natural disaster monitoring, the development of mapping information, environmental monitoring and tracking the impact of climate change around the world…"
You mean to say we didn’t have these already? I just assumed we did honestly. Were we just buying time from commercial vendors?
Seems like it. SSTL (who made this satellite) do loads of earth observation stuff already so the MOD probably just bought time on those satellites like you said.