Future-Proofing UK Defence: Industry's role in the Strategic Defence Review
Published 29th May 2025
By Andrew Thomis, CEO of Cohort
With the publication of the Strategic Defence Review now thought to be imminent, the spotlight will understandably be on spending commitments and force structures. But the UK’s defence does not depend solely on government and the armed forces – industry also has a pivotal role to play.
The outcomes of this review, together with the government’s future spending plans, will have profound implications for the long-term future of UK defence capabilities in the widest sense. As a critical part of this endeavour, the UK’s defence industry must be ready to play its part.
The Government's commitment to allocate 2.5% of GDP to defence spending by 2027, with a longer-term target of 3%, is a welcome and necessary move. With an increasingly uncertain global landscape the UK’s defence capability can no longer be viewed merely as a complement to soft power, to be deployed long-distance as a sign of support to allies or to combat future, distant threats. It’s needed to protect us in the here and now. We only need to look to Kyiv to understand what that means.
The factors expected to shape the defence strategy
As an island nation, our navy plays a crucial role in our defence strategy, and with the near-term threat being closer to home, we expect the Review to have a significant emphasis on maritime defence in the North Atlantic, as well as on certain key technologies and capabilities, identified from the conflicts and tensions in Eastern Europe, the Middle East and the Indo Pacific.
However, the true challenge lies not only in the allocation of funding, but in translating this investment into deployable, sustainable capabilities and, crucially, doing so swiftly.
This is where mid-tier defence and technology companies, such as those making up the Cohort group, will play a vital role. As key players in the supply chain, these companies will be integral to conceiving, designing manufacturing and sustaining at scale the systems that are needed to defeat today and tomorrow’s threats. Working in close partnership with the large defence prime contractors, their combination of innovation and agility together with the resources needed for rapid delivery are essential for meeting rapidly evolving threats in short timeframes. Our role in building UK defence is to grow in a way that allows us to accelerate delivery, share risks, and collaborate even more effectively at speed.
Defence will always depend on the skills and bravery of good people, but now more than ever technology is playing a crucial role. In part that is due to the understandable reluctance of democratic governments to put the lives of young men and women at risk. But the rapid advances in, for instance, high-energy batteries, software-controlled radios, satellite communications and artificial intelligence have created new opportunities for both aggressors and those who have to defend against them. We can expect the review to place significant emphasis on emerging technologies, such as autonomous systems, counter-drone, advanced sensors, cyber and electronic warfare - across land, air, sea and space.
One capability that has been cast into sharp focus by events in Ukraine is defence against missile and air threats, across the full spectrum from drone swarms to hypersonic missiles. Recent global conflicts have demonstrated the wide proliferation of these systems and their potency. Hypersonic missiles pose an especially threatening challenge both to our armed forces on operations and to the UK’s national infrastructure. Countermeasures to defend against them must form a core part of defence strategy.
Sustainability must also be a central consideration in this review, influencing capability planning, operational readiness, and industrial development. Energy independence and resilience are now recognised as vital to military effectiveness. Forces that depend on long, vulnerable fuel supply lines are at a distinct disadvantage. By incorporating alternative energy sources, smart energy management systems, and fuel-efficient platforms, we can ensure our forces ability to operate in a more hostile regional or global environment. But we must recognise that there is a tension between securing access to vital fuel supplies and other government objectives such as net-zero.
Another element of sustainability is to ensure that existing platforms remain mission ready and reliable throughout their lifespan. For this reason, upgrading existing defence capabilities to meet the needs of modern warfare will be increasingly important. To help future-proof the latest platforms – be that naval vessels or aircraft – we need to look toward open architecture and modular solutions that enable cost-effective upgrades.
Sustainability, in the widest sense, is a critical pillar for ensuring long-term strong and credible defence. If we are to build a future-ready, competitive, and resilient UK defence capability, including a strong industrial base, this must be a fundamental consideration.
An opportunity for all
In summary, the upcoming Strategic Defence Review presents an opportunity, not just for the armed forces, but for the entire UK defence ecosystem to evolve to match the new conditions in which it finds itself. The world is becoming more contested, and as industry leaders we need to play our part: to invest, adapt, and lead with the same clarity of purpose that we expect from our national strategy.
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