Lockheed Martin UK is expanding its presence in Britain, opening a new office to explore partnerships with local companies in the space sector.

The space technology office will be located at the UK Space Gateway in Harwell Oxford.

"Our new office will support the UK Space Agency's objective to grow national involvement in the space sector through innovation and science, new opportunities, and space-related exports," said Stephen Ball, chief executive of Lockheed Martin UK. "We will underpin this strategy by working with industry and academia to identify opportunities to accelerate innovation, strengthen national space expertise, and connect UK organizations with international space programs."

In addition to expanding Lockheed's supply chain in the space sector, the office will explore new technologies from small businesses and academia, the company said.

"We're supportive of the UK government's vision of cultivating an even stronger space industry to address pressing challenges and opportunities, from global security to environmental monitoring," said Rick Ambrose, executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Space Systems. "We're looking forward to applying our 50-year heritage of space systems expertise to work with UK partners to develop opportunities in climate monitoring, space weather and secure communications."