UK border tech budget swells by £100M as Home Office targets small boat crossings

The UK Home Office is initiating a single procurement worth up to £100 million for a Coastal Maritime ISR Service that will fuse data from BVLOS drones, radar, satellite AIS, and existing platforms to autonomously detect, track, and identify small boats and non-cooperative vessels, delivering near-real-time “Tracks as a Service” via API to the Royal Navy’s MDAP and a Home Office common operating picture. The 3–5 year, scalable managed service will include a supplier portal for camera feeds, alternative track displays, and alerts, and consolidates requirements with the Joint Maritime Security Centre’s Maritime Domain Awareness service to support operational decision-making across the UK, Crown Dependencies, and British Overseas Territories.