AERALIS welcomes Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer’s announcement that UK defence spending will rise to 2.5% of GDP by 2027.

This is not so much a change to policy, but a determination of the timeline to deliver what had already been committed to. Nonetheless, the rise from the UK’s current 2.3% rate of spending will amount to an additional £13.4bn per year.

The rise in defence spending will increase further thereafter, to 2.6% in 2027 and on to 3% in the next Parliament.

In his speech, the PM aligned this investment to opportunities for the economy: “This investment means that the UK will strengthen its position as a leader in NATO and in the collective defence of our continent. And we should welcome that role. It is good for our national security. It is also good for the defining mission of this government to restore growth to our economy, and we should be optimistic of what it can deliver in those terms.”

“We will use this investment as an opportunity. We will translate defence spending into British growth, British jobs, British skills, British innovation. And we will use the full powers of the Procurement Act to rebuild our industrial base.”

We will use this investment as an opportunity. We will translate defence spending into British growth, British jobs, British skills, British innovation.”

It is difficult to conceive of a current defence programme other than AERALIS that will deliver so precisely to every single one of the Prime Minister’s stated ambitions for this spending announcement:

✅ Modernising our air defence capabilities with a sovereign solution, rather than another platform purchased from overseas
✅ Increasing value for money to the UK taxpayer – 50% less cost to develop with no upfront investment required, 25% less to purchase and 60% less cost through-life
✅ Creating 4,000 high-skilled jobs in the UK
✅ Meeting the needs of a £90bn global export market
✅ Addressing significant NATO demand for fast jet pilot training
✅ Providing a business model and interoperable platform that will deepen our partnerships with allies in NATO, Europe, Japan and the Middle East.

The PM also announced that the various current spending reviews underway, including the Strategic Defence Review, will be brought together and published as a single National Security Strategy, ahead of the NATO Summit in June.

Read the full article by the BBC here

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Discover more about the AERALIS vision here

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