The spotlight shone once again on AERALIS in Parliament last week, as the Scottish Affairs Committee heard evidence for the protection of future aerospace and defence skills and jobs in Scotland.

Andrew Kinniburgh, Director-General of Make UK Defence and Warrick Malcolm, Director at ADS Scotland both spoke to the need for public-sector support for Scotland’s defence sector, capable of delivering billions in economic value and tens of thousands of skilled jobs.

Emblematic of the skills and resources to be found in Scotland was AERALIS’s choice of Prestwick for a UK final assembly line of its next generation Advanced  Trainer jet.

Mr Kinniburgh commented: “[AERALIS] want to build their new fast jet training aircraft at Prestwick Airport, and they do feel welcome at the moment, by the Scottish government and by the local MPs who have given incredible support to them, but we need to encourage the Scottish Government to make sure it is a welcome that they get. We want companies from overseas and from down south to locate themselves in Scotland. Prestwick is a fantastic example of a highly skilled workforce who are already there and could be busier, and we want to try and create hundreds of new jobs at Prestwick. So, I think we need to encourage the Scottish Government to welcome that kind of inward investment.”

AERALIS’s engagement in Scotland extends beyond Prestwick Airport to Ayrshire College and the wider community, representing significant opportunities for economic growth, apprenticeships, career development and high-skilled employment long into the future.

As Kinniburgh added: “It’s fantastic that the local college is so integrated with local business which is exactly what we need from an industrial perspective. When you join all those up, it becomes a really powerful thing. The AERALIS example; that’s starting to then design and build whole aircraft, not just for the first time in Scotland for many years, but the first time in the UK for about fifty years. That’s got to be something that we embrace. Scotland as a nation, and the UK as well, bring back that capability.”

Ayrshire’s community shares the AERALIS vision and ambition to put the UK back at the top of aerospace manufacturing. Its engagement with the AERALIS programme will not only defend the expertise already in the region but build on it – supporting exports of light military jet aircraft to air forces around the world and creating opportunities that keep these hard-earned skills here in the UK.

As Warrick Malcolm said: “Ayrshire is one of the jewels in the crown for our sector in Scotland.”

We couldn’t agree more… with the UK needing more than ever to develop independent aerospace & defence capability, the opportunity for Prestwick and Scotland to lead the way on light jet aircraft manufacture for the UK is clear.

🔗 Watch: Andrew Kinniburgh and Warrick Malcolm address Scottish Affairs Committee

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