Mr Ashcroft’s appointment to the newly created role follows the launch of Kleos’ Scouting Mission satellites (KSM1) in November 2020, the launch of its Polar Vigilance Mission (KSF1) satellites in July 2021, and the development of the third cluster scheduled to launch later this year (KSF2).

Kleos CEO Andy Bowyer said, “We are committed to investing in new technology developments to meet customers evolving needs and Miles’ new role brings a focus to this approach. The forward-looking role aims to broaden our R&D and innovation roadmap and be fully integrated with and enhance our business development strategy.”

Commenting on his new role, Chief Innovation Officer Miles Ashcroft said, “Kleos has reached a significant technical milestone with an increasing number of space-based assets for detection and geolocation of radio frequency transmissions. Initial data is with customers for assessment and implementation of the data interface and delivery infrastructure is being developed to support our growing subscriber numbers over the coming months”.

To continue to meet the demands of our governmental and commercial customers, it is essential that Kleos increases its commitment to product innovation. The intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance data being collected now can be developed and refined, and in future Kleos will consider additional data types. Varying collection parameters and ground segment modifications will improve precision, content, and latency – all factors that will benefit end customers and data integrators.

Miles Ashcroft adds: “I’m very excited by the new role, which requires a holistic approach that takes into account satellite and data product diversity, new software methods and algorithms, data intelligence provision capability, and Kleos’ constellation use and satellite cluster interaction.”

Kleos’ US-based Technical Director, Vincent (Vinny) Furia, has been promoted to Chief Technology Officer, effective concurrently.