Britain’s defence industry is holding again funding, recruitment and planning choices whereas it waits for the long-delayed Defence Investment Plan, senior figures from BAE Systems, Babcock, QinetiQ and Leonardo instructed the Scottish Affairs Committee on Wednesday, with all 4 corporations describing a sector that is aware of cash is coming however can’t act at full tempo till it is aware of the place that cash will go.
Babcock’s John Howie described the present second as one of three overlapping inflection factors, the primary being the modified geopolitical panorama, the second being the speedy emergence of low-cost autonomous know-how from Ukraine that was forcing the industry to ask elementary questions on what product growth ought to appear to be, and the third being the monetary consequence of each, saying the UK was ready “with bated breath” for the Defence Investment Plan and that the big primes have been already reorienting round AI, autonomy and uncrewed platforms however that this “will not gather full speed until we understand what the scale of the investment from Government will be and where their buying patterns will shift.”
Leonardo’s Mark Stead was equally direct, saying that the majority important defence industry websites within the UK “are, or should be, becoming building sites in order to grow more capability” however that to take action they wanted “clearer commitments through the defence investment plan, which will give us guidance, directional planning assumptions, access to investment, and those major programmes of record that feed us and our supply chain.”
He mentioned Leonardo’s Edinburgh enterprise benefited from present programmes of report together with the ECRS Mk2 radar for Typhoon and the Global Combat Air Programme which had maintained funding by means of the DIP hiatus, however mentioned the plan “cannot come soon enough” so the corporate may plan, co-invest and construct the talents and capability wanted for nationwide resilience.
QinetiQ’s Cathy Kane confirmed that delays in home orders brought on by the Strategic Defence Review and Defence Industrial Strategy had already slowed the corporate’s development within the first half of 2025, declining to offer particular figures when requested by the committee however saying that “the opportunity to have a long-term strategic vision so that we can adapt our business to ensure that we are delivering what you need is most helpful to us.”
BAE’s Neil Holm mentioned the corporate had invested over £300 million within the final two years and was trying ahead to the Norway Type 26 deal sustaining Clyde shipbuilding effectively into the following decade, however that the alignment between industrial technique and defence procurement was “deeply important” and that “a close link between the industrial strategy for the UK and defence procurement will give a huge benefit.”
Howie additionally highlighted a elementary problem posed by the convergence of geopolitical urgency and technological uncertainty, asking whether or not “a billion-dollar missile and a £200 drone carry the same effect” and suggesting the reply to that query was shaping how the entire industry was fascinated with the place to take a position, with corporations reluctant to commit absolutely till the federal government had clarified its personal place on the longer term pressure combine by means of the Defence Investment Plan.
The committee heard that the DIP’s absence was having knock-on results past funding choices, instantly constraining the quantity of apprentices corporations felt capable of tackle, the tempo at which they may develop their workforces, and their capability to offer early profession employees the long-term certainty wanted to make defence a sexy profession, with Howie saying the issue got here all the way down to “the need for long-term contracts” and that with out them the industry couldn’t responsibly tackle employees it may not be capable of maintain.
