Arrival, introductions and informal networking

Welcome and framing: fusion as a capability ecosystem for defence and national security.

This session provides a foundational understanding of fusion energy, giving an overview of the core physics, the relevant spin-out technologies and pathways to commercialization. It will explore why defence investment in fusion today is justified even ahead of grid-scale power generation.

• Core Fusion Principles: the fundamental physics of fusion, including plasma dynamics and the remaining technical challenges to achieving sustained energy gain.
• Pace and Direction: the rapidly growing private fusion industry, increasing investment from both venture capital and government sources, and the strategic implications of intensifying competition, including China’s growing capabilities and ambitions.
• Defence and Energy Sovereignty: how fusion energy could ultimately provide a resilient power source, reducing reliance on vulnerable fossil fuel logistics
• Near-Term Defence Applications: an overview of the dual-use technologies emerging from fusion R&D, including lasers for directed-energy weapons and anti-drone systems, neutron sources for materials testing and threat detection, and advanced shielding and electronics hardening for EMP-resilient platforms.

This session will delve into fusion-derived advancements in high-power laser systems, from the technologies enabling fusion ignition to their direct applications in next-generation defence platforms as disruptive directed-energy weapons, countermeasures. The discussion will explore what fusion programmes uniquely enable versus adjacent laser development pathways.

• High-Power Laser Architectures: a technical overview of cutting-edge laser designs, including diode-pumped solid-state lasers, fiber lasers, and novel amplification techniques, and their respective advantages for defence applications.
• Directed-Energy Weapons (DEW): operational advantages and challenges of current laser-based DEWs – including examples such as the US Navy’s HELIOS system – an the potential for fusion-derived advancements.
• Countermeasure Precision Effects: the use of lasers for dazzling optical sensors, or generating laser arrays to defeat incoming threats.
• Mobile Integration: the engineering challenges of integrating high-power laser systems onto tactical platforms, including power, thermal management, beam control, and survivability.

Connect with fellow attendees and network over coffee

This session focuses on the strategic applications of compact neutron and particle sources derived from fusion research, particularly in materials science, threat detection, and stockpile stewardship. The conversation will cover their role in hardening critical infrastructure against radiation and EMP effects, as well as their potential for non-destructive inspection.

• Compact Neutron Source Technologies: an overview of emerging compact, high-flux neutron sources and their advantages over traditional reactor-based sources.
• Materials Testing and Radiation Hardening: the critical role of neutron sources in qualifying materials and electronics for harsh radiation environments, ensuring the resilience of military assets in space and other contested domains.
• Threat Detection and Non-Destructive Inspection: neutron and particle beams for detecting shielded special nuclear materials, identifying explosives, and structural defects in critical components.
• Stockpile Stewardship: use of fusion-derived neutron sources for verification, validation, and life-extension of strategic assets.

An informal networking lunch

This session explores the longer-term but potentially transformative role of compact fusion systems in providing modular, high-density energy for defence applications.It will examine system designs and pathways to commercialisation, differentiating demonstrators, nearer-term hybrid systems, and intended deployable machines.

• Modular Fusion Reactor Designs: an overview of leading compact fusion approaches and their current technology readiness levels.
• Energy for Contested Logistics: how fusion-enabled or hybrid systems could reduce the logistical burden of fuel convoys for forward operating bases.
• Naval and Undersea Applications: long-term prospects for compact fusion power in naval platforms including practical, safety, and integration challenges.
• Resilient Microgrids and Infrastructure: how fusion-derived technologies could enhance the resilience of critical military installations and microgrids.

This session will explore the transformative impact of fusion technologies on space propulsion, offering the potential for unprecedented speed, endurance, andmaneuverability. The conversation will focus on how fusion-derived technologies can enhance the resilience and operational capability of space-based systems.

• Advanced Plasma Propulsion: an exploration of next-generation plasma thrusters, such as Hall thrusters and MPD thrusters, and their ability to provide high-efficiency, long-duration propulsion.
• Enhanced Manoeuvrability and Resilience: how advanced propulsion can provide satellites with greater agility to evade threats, reposition assets, and maintain orbital dominance in a contested space environment.
• Power for Space and High-Energy Systems: the dual role of fusion systems in providing both propulsion and high-capacity electrical power for advanced sensors, directed-energy weapons, and other power-intensive payloads in near space.
• Fusion-Based Space Propulsion: an overview of, high-thrust concepts like fusion-fragment rockets and direct fusion drives as longer-term strategic capabilities, and their potential to enable rapid interplanetary transit.

Connect with fellow attendees and network over coffee

Transitioning fusion-derived technologies from laboratory prototypes to mission-ready platforms requires a coordinated ecosystem standards, validation, supply chains, and procurement. This session addresses both the technical and programmatic challenges of accelerating fusion technology adoption across defence systems.

• Interface Standards, Testing, and Qualification: ensuring interoperability, testing and evaluation protocols that validate performance, reliability, and safety in operationally relevant environments, enabling integration of fusion-based subsystems into existing platforms.
• Supply Chain Resilience and OEM Co-Development: building secure and scalable supply chains and fostering collaboration between fusion innovators and defence contractors to de-risk tech integration and establish pathways for platform adoption.
• Innovative Procurement and Dual-Use Pathways: leveraging agile procurement mechanisms such as the US OTAs and pilot programmes to accelerate adoption while sharing risk with the private sector
• International Collaboration and Pilot Demonstrations: identifying and prioritizing a portfolio of near-term pilot projects and capability demonstrators to validate fusion technology military utility and de-risk integration into future defence programs.

Synthesis of opportunities, concrete follow-ups, group photo.

Cocktail reception for all attendees

Exclusive Member & VIPs dinner. To become a member, join here.