Strength through agility: powering the UK’s defence future
Published 2nd June 2025
The Government's commitment today to investing in a defence architecture that will make Britain safer and stronger is a welcome and necessary move. In a world where threats to the UK loom and proliferate, it is critical that our defence posture is strong and credible, underpinned by real and resilient capability. The UK’s defence industry has a crucial role to play in this transformation.
Delivering on the ambition
While today’s announcement sets out a vision of a more secure future, there is still much work to be done. Like organisms adapting to survive, our defence systems must evolve faster than the threats hunting them - and recent years have shown just how quickly adversaries develop new technologies in response to our countermeasures. To stay ahead, the Government will need to work closely with industry to ensure that we have the engineering skills, supply chains and agility to be able to respond to rapidly emerging national security threats that evolve at digital speed.
The planned investment in naval capability is a vital and necessary step, but only part of the story. Some of the most devastating military technology being deployed now doesn't require massive capital investments in shipyards and steel, as we’ve seen with Ukraine’s remarkable co-ordinated attack on Russian air bases. It’s about intelligence, autonomy, sensors, communications and above all, velocity. Achieving this for the UK will involve greater collaboration with defence technology businesses – and not just the major primes.
Mid-tier defence and technology companies, like those within the Cohort Group, have an important role to play in creating and delivering advanced defence solutions at speed. Their flexibility and agility is essential for the rapid deployment of critical capabilities including technologies such as drones, satellite communications, missile protection, fire control, communications systems, cyber security and underwater sensing.
The Royal Navy plays a crucial role in our defence strategy, and with the near-term threat in the North Atlantic, it was pleasing to see that the SDR has addressed the Royal Navy’s pressing need for additional submarines. The proposed ‘Hybrid Navy’ blending drones of all kinds with ships and submarines is a surely the right path for a country with the capacity for extraordinary technological achievements, and a strong desire to minimise the danger to which we expose our young men and women. I am keen to see the use of open architecture and modular solutions that enable cost-effective upgrades and are system agnostic, all of which will benefit this hybrid approach.
The battlefield of tomorrow has no GPS coordinates. Today's battlefield has no geographical – or physical – boundaries, and we must be ready to fight the 'Invisible War' and defend our assets against cyber-attacks, whilst exploiting the vulnerabilities of our adversaries.
Industry has a crucial role in helping the Government assess these risks, accelerate delivery and collaborate effectively at speed. Combined with lessons from Ukraine and other conflicts across the world, this will allow us, together, to both strengthen UK national security and align with NATO priorities. Industry and Government must move in perfect coordination if we are to deliver on the promise of today’s Review.
Driving innovation and industry forward
In defence, standing still is moving backward. The future capabilities and strength of our armed forces will be shaped by the investments we make in innovation today.
Sustainable spending will continue to be an important focus for the Government which has today reinforced the pledge to raise defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027. While there will be much debate around whether this is enough and how this is achieved, one thing is clear – the world is facing its most serious and unpredictable threats since the cold war. We cannot afford to not take action.
Preparing our armed forces for high-intensity conflict will also create new opportunities for employment, regional growth and industrial revitalisation. In the last year, we have seen a 13% increase in our Group headcount across the UK alone and we expect this trend to accelerate. As an industry, there is an opportunity to draw on specialist technical and engineering expertise from manufacturing sectors such as automotive, where demand for such skills has plateaued, to ensure we have the right people to deliver on what has been pledged by the Government.
The future capabilities and strength of our armed forces will be shaped by the investments we make in innovation today. That’s why it’s more important than ever that industry and Government work together to ensure that, in these pre-war days, we can drive innovation at a wartime pace.
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