The UK Defense Sector Has Grown 36% In The Last 10 Years

According to ADS Group, a United Kingdom trade association with over 1,300 members advocating for aerospace, defense, security, and space industries in the United Kingdom, the United Kingdom’s defense sector is growing and adding more value to the economy. For ADS Group, the defense sector’s growth provides deterrence and investment for the United Kingdom.

Deterrence through investment

As a member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the United Kingdom is obligated to spend a minimum of 2% of the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) on defense. According to ADS Group’s Defence Sector UK Outlook 2024 report on page 5, that investment has been surpassed since at least 2014, with a constant almost 2.3% of GDP investment in recent years. Additionally, the report notes a 36% increase in investment in the defense industrial base between 2013 and 2023.

Photo: Eurofighter

Furthermore, the UK economy has received £12 billion in boosts from the UK defense industry. This boost comes from £9.5 billion of exports and increased pay rates for the industry’s 164,000 employees.

UK defense exports

The UK exports more defense products than the multi-nation Eurofighter Typhoon fighter jet, including naval guns, avionics, ammunition, work on the F-35 multinational fighter jet project, the European Common Radar System (ECRS), Mark 2 (Mk2) prototype seen above as the story’s cover photo, and the AgustaWestland AW101 “Merlin” multi-role helicopter—formerly the EH101 and pictured below, for starters. All these defense industry exports help add value to the United Kingdom economy.

Photo: Ryan Fletcher | Shutterstock

The UK defense sector was only estimated to be 31% of exports in 2023. But with the growing threats of war from Russia, the People’s Republic of China, North Korea, Houthis, and Hamas – the demand for modern weapons systems is growing.

Additionally, the ADS Group made this recommendation in the report;

“Domestic sales alone are not enough to support the UK defence sector. Increasing the level of UK exports must be seen as a strategic priority to ensure domestic industrial strength and drive international collaboration. To achieve this, a new approach to procurement that places a premium on exportable designs is needed,”

ADS Group’s report also suggested that the UK defense sector should focus growth on drone warfare, artificial intelligence (AI), and air defense. Some of this work could bring in “non-traditional defense players” to help grow the economic sector. Finally, defense exports in 2022 and estimated to be in 2023 are also at least 80% airpower related.

Well-paying jobs spread out throughout the United Kingdom

ADS Group reported that in the UK defense sector, the average pay is £39.9K pounds. According to uk.indeed.com and the Office for National Statistics, the median salary is £34,963. One can also see in the below infographic where the defense jobs are in the United Kingdom:

Graphic: ADS Group

As one can see, these jobs are geographically diverse. Seventy percent of UK defense sector jobs are outside of the nation’s economic center of gravity in London and the southeast.

Bottom line

The United Kingdom is increasingly investing in defense. Why? As United Kingdom Prime Minister Rishi Sunak spoke on May 13,

“Counterintuitive as it may seem, throughout human history, the greatest breakthroughs of science and learning have so often come at the moments of greatest danger. … so it is incumbent upon us to make this a period not just of great danger, but great progress, too. That’s why we launched a bold plan to make science and technology our new national purpose.”

With the United Kingdom’s defense sector growing and airpower exports leading the growth, Prime Minister Sunak’s new national purpose seems to have mighty wings spread around the United Kingdom.

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