UK Unveils £250m Defence Industrial Strategy With Strong Maritime Focus

The UK government has published its long-awaited Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS), backed by a £250 million investment to spur regional growth and drive innovation. 

Defence Secretary John Healey launched the strategy on 8th September at a Bristol-based defence technology firm.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves said the plan would “unleash the power of local economies while securing our country”. The government expects the DIS to generate up to 50,000 new defence jobs by 2035, offering skilled engineering roles and apprenticeships nationwide.

Key to the strategy are five new Defence Growth Deals, designed to leverage each region’s industrial strengths in partnership with local authorities, businesses, academia, and defence. 

“These deals offer a new partnership with UK Defence to build on industrial and innovation strengths that regions already hold,” said Healey. “Together we aim to drive an increase in defence skills, SMEs and jobs across all four nations”.

The first Defence Growth Deals will focus on:

• Plymouth - designated as the UK’s centre for marine autonomy, with over £4 billion of planned naval investment supporting trials of unmanned surface vessels, autonomous underwater vehicles and advanced port infrastructure. 
• South Yorkshire - a hub for advanced materials and specialist steel components, including armour, missile launch tubes and submarine hull segments. 
• Wales - building on expertise in unmanned aerial systems, Cardiff and Snowdonia will expand drone testing for maritime reconnaissance and logistics. 
• Scotland - driving shipbuilding innovation, autonomous vessel research and naval systems integration, with key clusters around the Clyde, Rosyth, and academic centres.
• Northern Ireland - strengthening cyber-defence and dual-use innovation, with Harland & Wolff’s shipyard capabilities and Queen’s University Belfast’s Centre for Secure Information Technologies.

The DIS also addresses the need to respond rapidly to evolving global threats by reinforcing industrial capacity for naval shipbuilding, munitions production and maritime surveillance systems. 

Defence spending is earmarked to rise to 2.6% of GDP by 2027, with an ambition to reach 3% “as a long-term investment in both security and a high-growth economy,” according to the Ministry of Defence.

The new Defence Industrial Strategy seeks to secure the UK’s sovereign capabilities at sea, nurture local supply chains and safeguard thousands of jobs in shipyards and naval support services across the nation.
 

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