Roke to mature British Army’s Land ISTAR capability under Project Zodiac
UK-based defence and national security company Roke has been awarded a British Army contract valued at £20m ($26m) to optimise Project Zodiac for the frontline.
Project Zodiac is the British Army’s initiative aimed at updating its intelligence, surveillance, target acquisition, and reconnaissance (ISTAR) systems.
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The project’s goal is to unify sensors, decision-makers, and effectors within a cohesive network to streamline command and control operations.
Roke managing director Paul MacGregor said: “Zodiac connects systems and processes that have never been able to talk to each other before, through a sovereign data fabric. Zodiac digitises processes and procedures that have historically taken place on whiteboards, voice comms, maps, spreadsheets, and transforms the way the Army interacts on the battlefield.”
Since 2021, Roke has been the principal contractor and system integrator for Project Zodiac.
In 2023, the company secured a £40m award to advance Project Zodiac for the British Army for two years.
The company has already partnered with a consortium of partners and developed a minimum viable product.
Roke will continue to collaborate with the British Army to enhance the solution and incorporate feedback from users during battlefield exercises to make iterative improvements to the software in the next 12 months.
Project Zodiac is contributing to the objectives outlined in the 2025 Strategic Defence Review, aiming to bolster the Army’s capabilities in contested spaces, enhance interoperability with Nato allies, address state-level threats, and support other digital initiatives like the Digital Targeting Web and ASGARD.
The company stated that a Zodiac prototype system was delivered within the allocated budget and timeline to the 3rd (UK) Division in June 2024.
It saw successful deployment during Exercise CERBERUS 24 in Germany.
The system also participated in the Warfighter 25-4 exercise at Fort Cavazos in Texas in May 2025, where it played a crucial role in enabling 3rd (UK) Division alongside multinational forces to locate and neutralise enemy targets.
“Zodiac will be a vital enabler to the Army’s Recce-Strike vision, and will massively enhance the lethality of the Army.”
“Over the next 12 months we will be working hard in our role as Mission Partner to help the Army turn strategic intent into operational reality,” Paul MacGregor added.
