DSEI 2025: A Changing Defence Landscape Through Captec’s Lens
Uniting a Global Defence Community
With record-breaking attendance and the largest showcase of exhibitors to date, DSEI UK 2025 united the international defence community like never before. Drawing representatives from governments, defence ministries, senior military officials, and all UK Front Line Commands, the event proved to be the ultimate platform for collaboration and innovation across every operational domain. Reports highlight a 9.6% increase in attendance, with 45,000+ visitors and more than 1,700 exhibitors from 50 nations, reflecting the event’s growing global reach and influence.
Scale Meets Substance
The scale of the venue alone was striking, with a single side of the exhibition taking the better part of a day to cover. Growth on that scale signals more than just size; it shows how the defence community is widening its scope, bringing in new technologies and a more diverse range of contributors.
Where Innovation Was Found
Among the familiar sights of the main exhibition floor, the technology centre offered a different feel. This was where engineers, designers, and specialists exchanged ideas about how to bring new capabilities to life. The atmosphere was less about presentation and more about collaboration, which reflects how defence is evolving; it is not just about the size of the platform, but about the quality and resilience of the systems supporting it.
A Changing Threat Environment
Nowhere was urgency more apparent than in the surge of interest around counter-drone systems. With uncrewed platforms becoming widespread, the focus has shifted to how drones can be defended against, disrupted, or neutralised. Exhibitors at DSEI showcased solutions that were mobile, flexible, and capable of responding to fast-moving threats, such as swarms and loitering munitions.
Adaptable defences are beginning to define the direction of future capabilities, and is where Captec is well suited to support: our work on ruggedised computing and deployable control systems is directly aligned with these priorities.
Naval Strength and Industrial Collaboration
Naval defence had a strong presence throughout the week, with major announcements in sonar and submarine training underscoring growing investment in maritime programs. Navies are prioritizing resilience and protection of critical infrastructure, something that strongly aligns with Captec’s end-to-end technology portfolio. Beyond rugged specialized computing, we design and engineer complex integrated systems and subsystems built to DEF-STAN and MIL standards for shock, vibration, IP, and thermal performance.
Our specialist Subsystems Engineering division recently expanded its surface treatment capabilities, allowing Captec to now meet the most stringent levels of the latest 2025 BR 3939 Warpaint standards, ensuring durability and corrosion resistance for the harshest maritime environments.
Building Resilient Partnerships Across Borders
The MOD’s encouragement of SME involvement was evident across the event. Larger defence primes are showing greater willingness to partner with agile, mid-sized companies that can turn concepts into working systems. Captec’s integration expertise sits firmly in this space, bridging the gap between innovation and deployment.
Showcasing our expanding international footprint, Captec featured on the Canadian Pavilion. With established manufacturing operations in both the UK and Canada, we are uniquely positioned to meet domestic content requirements and deliver Industrial and Technological Benefits (ITB) and offset value to programs operating in Canada. This cross-Atlantic footprint enables us to strengthen supply-chain resilience, enhance program eligibility, and support agile acquisition strategies in line with national procurement priorities.
This approach aligns directly with DSEI’s “Preparing the Future Force” theme, where maintaining advantage relies on resilient industrial partnerships, interoperable systems, and trusted digital infrastructure. By linking our expertise in specialized computing, complex integrated systems and subsystems across both regions, Captec is helping customers to build the adaptable, mission-ready systems that future defence operations will depend on. It’s collaboration in action; connecting capability, technology, and people to ensure continuity of support, compliance, and innovation on both sides of the Atlantic.
Power Where it is Needed
Another clear takeaway was the demand for more computing performance in harsh environments. Across the exhibition, companies demonstrated systems that could process large amounts of data, support multiple sensors, and deliver results in real time. The technical challenge is no longer just whether this power can be achieved, but whether it can be both achieved and maintained, in places where heat, dust, vibration, and moisture are unavoidable. Thermal management is becoming a defining capability, and Captec is already addressing this need with direct liquid cooling technologies that maintain steady performance when it matters most.
Looking Ahead
DSEI 2025 showed an industry responding to rapid change. Global defence is being reshaped by the increased need for resilience, deployability, and collaboration. For Captec, the event reinforced the direction we are already taking, designing and engineering systems that operate reliably in the harshest of environments, supporting highly demanding defence applications across sea, subsea, land, and air, and acting as the end-to-end provider who can make new ideas work reliably in the field.
As defence technology continues to evolve, the challenge is no longer about ideas but about making them work reliably in the field. Captec specializes in bridging that gap.
Get in touch to discuss how we can support your next program.
Captec: 40 Years of Innovation, Poised for the Future
Founded in 1985, Captec is a trusted provider of Specialized Computers, Integrated Systems, and Edge AI & IoT platforms for defence and other mission-critical sectors. With decades of experience and deep technical expertise, we deliver fit-for-purpose computing solutions designed to perform reliably in harsh, mobile, and secure environments.
Since expanding into Canada and North America in 2006, we’ve built a reputation for engineering excellence, system resilience, and trusted partnerships; supporting our customers as they modernise defence platforms, adopt edge computing, and strengthen operational readiness across land, sea, air, and joint domains.
