UKIRT is currently being funded by NASA and operated under scientific cooperation between Lockheed Martin Advanced Technology Center, the University of Hawaii, and the U. S. Naval Observatory.

The mirror's accuracy despite its very low weight and thickness was partly achieved by sitting it on concentric circles of aluminum pistons/air cells, 80 in all.

Computer control of these pneumatic pistons enabled stresses in the glass to be canceled out effectively modeling the behavior of a much thicker mirror.

The geometry of the mount limits the telescopes access to objects between +60 and −40 degrees of declination but it is extremely sturdy and free from deformation and so allows very accurate pointing.

The entire structure was built on massive ball bearings held rigid by shear pins to afford earthquake protection.

Most of the time is used by the UKIRT Infrared Deep Sky Survey, but about 60 nights per year are used by Korean institutes.

Since 2003, using these two software enhancements, UKIRT has carried out highly efficient flexible scheduling – tailoring observation execution to the prevailing weather conditions.

Technical support is provided by the East Asian Observatory, the successor organization operating the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope.

The UK continues to provide support for data pipelines and archives for the Wide-Field Camera and receives a share of the time for survey projects of joint interest.