David Sandy is the managing director of The Aerospace Corporation UK Ltd, where he is responsible for growing the company and facilitating United Kingdom–United States integration. Among the key customers of Aerospace UK are the UK Ministry of Defence (UK MoD), the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS), and the UK Space Agency (UKSA).
Prior to joining Aerospace UK in 2023, Sandy had a 34-year career in the Royal Navy, rising to the position of commander after undertaking several critical operational, planning, and strategic roles with increasing levels of responsibility. Throughout his career, Sandy’s specific focus has been on enhancing the end-to-end delivery of military capabilities in permissive and nonpermissive environments at the unit, formation, and task group level to deliver UK defence tasks. As the joint operations officer in the Middle East and chief of staff to the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) maritime Supreme Allied Commander Europe (SACEUR), Sandy worked with a wide variety of international partners, eventually becoming deputy commander and chief of the international staff as the UK’s national representative in NATO’s Standing Maritime Task Group.
Previously, as military assistant to the director of strategy at the UK MoD, Sandy contributed to the development of the UK’s Management of Defence Programme (MDP), regularly reporting to the chief of defence, staff, and the Permanent Under-Secretary of State for Defence. Returning to MoD in 2020, he was appointed as the first chief of staff to Director Space in the newly formed MoD Space Directorate. Responsible for military strategy and space cohesion, he supported the development and delivery of the MoD’s first-ever defence space strategy and—as part of the core planning team—delivery of the first “space proposition” to the government in 2021, where MoD Space Directorate was awarded £1.5 billion over 10 years in addition to £5 billion for satellite communications. Sandy’s last MoD roles included supporting the security aspects of the European Union transition, leading a COVID-19 defence crisis management team, and serving as the maritime lead for UK Special Operations, where he provided domain integration and policy support to overseas operational delivery in support of the allied response to the war in Ukraine.
Education
Sandy earned a master’s degree in business management from the University of Portsmouth and an MBA from the University of Northampton. His master’s thesis on “grey-zone” tactics was used to help shape UK MoD space strategic policies and priorities. Sandy has also achieved qualifications in programme management and information technology.