Andrew Kinniburgh
Director-General, Make UK Defence
With NATO allies’ defence spend rising, now is the time to transform our industrial base and deliver the Prime Minister’s ‘defence dividend’ through targeted inward investment.
The Government’s recent Strategic Defence Review was right to identify that UK-based businesses must be prioritised to strengthen our industrial base. However, anyone in industry knows that we cannot do everything alone, and there will always be times when we must buy from abroad to get the best capability our Armed Forces need at the right price.
Defence spend drives investment
The UK Government has a once-in-a-generation opportunity to leverage one of the largest defence budgets in the world to drive inward investment into the UK when buying from abroad.
While over 50 developed nations operate similar industrial participation policies, NATO allies like Poland have demonstrated their ability to drive inward investment from defence spending – securing a USD6 billion investment commitment from Lockheed Martin in 2003 as part of their procurement of 48 F-16 fighter jets.1 In 2023, they demonstrated further success by securing a £200 million inward investment from the WILSA anti-aircraft and anti-missile programme.2
For the UK, a defence inward investment
plan could become a central pillar to
the Government’s Growth Mission.
Unlocking defence-led opportunity
For the UK, a defence inward investment plan could become a central pillar to the Government’s Growth Mission, placing legal requirements on foreign companies to invest in good commercial opportunities in our country.
For industry — from your large primes to your mid-tiers and SMEs — this means more opportunities to win work, grow their business and provide highly skilled jobs to communities across the nations and regions.
With the upcoming Defence Industrial Strategy, the UK Government must seize the moment to unlock the potential of the defence industry and deliver long-overdue economic growth.
[1] Lockheed Martin, 2003. Lockheed Martin and Poland Sign Offset Agreement Valued at More Than $6 Billion.
[2] Ministry of National Defence, 2023. Poland strengthens the air defence system. Offset contracts for Phase II of the WISIA programme are signed. Republic of Poland.
