Britain is lifting lessons from Ukraine’s front line to deal with drones over its prisons. In a Ministry of Justice press notice dated 16 January 2026, Deputy Prime Minister David Lammy said the UK will apply Ukrainian counter‑drone know‑how at home, with an extra £6.5m from UK Research and Innovation to accelerate research and testing. ([gov.uk](Link

Why it matters: drone drops are no longer niche. HMPPS’s Annual Digest recorded 1,712 drone incidents across England and Wales in the 12 months to March 2025, up 43% year on year. The government has also highlighted a 770% rise between 2019 and 2023 as organised crime groups industrialised deliveries. ([gov.uk](Link

For suppliers, the route to market is getting clearer. The Ministry of Justice says it will work with UK Defence Innovation and UKRI on high‑stakes competitions, open to UK and Ukrainian businesses, to test technologies designed for prison operations. Expect calls to prioritise detection, tracking and safe defeat rather than heavy electronic interdiction. ([gov.uk](Link

HMGCC Co‑Creation shows how these challenges run in practice. The MoJ‑backed Counter‑Drone Challenge launched on 4 November 2025 offered £60,000 per team for proofs of concept and stressed that all solutions must be legally compliant for prison settings. HMGCC says its funded sprints typically last 12–16 weeks, with participants retaining IP and working at OFFICIAL classification. ([gov.uk](Link

Budget signals look supportive. Beyond the UKRI top‑up, ministers point to £40m for prison security this year, including around £10m on anti‑drone measures such as exterior netting and reinforced windows-capital spend that can absorb deployable products while R&D progresses. ([gov.uk](Link

The defence innovation pipeline is widening the opportunity. UK Defence Innovation announced in December it would invest about £142m in drone and counter‑drone technology in its first year, implying adjacent markets for sensors, AI‑enabled detection and electronic counter‑measures. ([gov.uk](Link

The Ukraine link is substantive, not symbolic. Under the UK–Ukraine 100 Year Partnership signed in Kyiv on 16 January 2025, London pledged long‑term tech cooperation. Ministers say the UK committed £350m in 2025 to help scale Ukraine’s drone capacity from 10,000 in 2024 to 100,000 by the end of 2025-experience Whitehall now wants to transfer into secure prison operations. ([gov.uk](Link

What SMEs should do next. Register interest with HMGCC Co‑Creation, track MoJ and UKDI calls, and build consortia that blend RF, radar, optical and acoustic detection with low false‑positive rates and clear evidential logging. The DASA playbook on integrating multiple counter‑UAS layers is a useful guide to requirements shaping. ([hmgcc.gov.uk](Link

Two constraints will shape early winners: legal compliance and real‑world usability. Prison environments demand small footprints, minimal interference with other systems and straightforward operation by frontline staff. Expect bid specs to emphasise these basics alongside night performance and audit trails. ([gov.uk](Link