How the UK builds defence advantage through scale-up

The United Kingdom does not lack innovation. Across our universities, laboratories and technology companies, there is an extraordinary depth of talent.

The real challenge, it has become clear, is how to translate that innovation into operational capability quickly enough to matter.

This is the structural tension at the heart of modern defence. Traditional acquisition models favour scale, assurance and long development cycles, while emerging technology companies thrive on agility, experimentation and speed. Yet national advantage increasingly depends on bringing these two worlds together. My view is that, if the UK is to maintain its technological edge, we must rethink how innovation moves from theoretical to the frontline.

From a purely scale perspective, many of the most disruptive technologies shaping defence are emerging not from large primes but from fast-growing technology scale-up companies. Artificial Intelligence, autonomy, advanced materials and digital systems are areas where scale-ups are often moving at remarkable pace.

But there is a paradox: the very agility that allows these companies to innovate can be lost if they are absorbed into large organisations. Cultural friction, regulation, governance structures and the demands of large programmes can unintentionally slow the momentum that made those companies valuable in the first place. At the same time, defence customers quite rightly require the assurance, safety, integration and scale that established industrial partners provide. A promising technology alone is not enough; it must often be integrated, deployable, reliable and supported by a robust industrial backbone.

Collaboration as the emerging model

The reality, therefore, is that the future of defence belongs to the manner in which primes and scale-ups can successfully work together towards a common goal. With this in mind, the emerging model for defence capability is not only one where large companies acquire innovative firms, but where they collaborate. The goal is co-delivery, combining the creativity and speed of high-growth technology firms with the integration expertise and industrial capacity of established defence companies.

This approach recognises an important truth about innovation: breakthrough ideas flourish in agile environments. At the same time, national resilience requires those ideas to be scaled, integrated and deployed through trusted industrial frameworks. At Leonardo UK, collaboration with emerging technology companies is therefore a deliberate industrial choice.

Rather than attempting to integrate innovation, our approach – including traditional mergers and acquisitions where appropriate – is to identify high-potential UK technology companies working on solutions aligned with real operational demand. Those technologies are then integrated into deployable systems, supported by Leonardo UK’s engineering expertise, safety assurance and manufacturing capability.

For scale-ups, this offers assurance, credibility and access to defence customers that would otherwise be difficult to achieve alone, not to mention a greater visibility with VC and PE investors. For the wider defence ecosystem, it accelerates the journey from prototype to deployable capability. Together, this strengthens UK sovereign supply chains while supporting high-skill jobs and industrial growth.

The changing nature of defence advantage

Why does this matter? Because the nature of defence advantage is changing.

Historically, military capability was often defined by large, sophisticated platforms such as aircraft, ships and armoured vehicles. While those platforms remain essential, the decisive advantage increasingly lies in the technology inside them, such as sensors, electronic warfare systems, software, autonomy and data integration. In other words, the battlespace is becoming more technological, and the intelligence inside the platform is becoming as important as the platform itself.

That shift has important implications for how innovation should be organised. Capability cycles are shortening, new technologies must be integrated and iterated rapidly, and integration speed now matters as much as invention. Collaboration allows the UK to move faster.

By combining the agility of scale-ups with the experience of established defence companies, we can reduce the time it takes for new technologies to move from concept to operational use. At the same time, we can ensure that those technologies meet the safety, certification and reliability standards required in defence environments.

Strengthening sovereign capability

Importantly, this model also strengthens sovereign capability. The geopolitical environment is becoming more fragmented and contested, and control of data, technology and supply chains is increasingly central to national resilience. The ability to develop, integrate and sustain advanced capabilities domestically is therefore not simply an industrial concern; it is a strategic one.

A collaborative ecosystem of primes, scale-ups, universities and government provides the foundation for that resilience. It also reflects a broader reality: no single organisation can deliver the full spectrum of modern defence innovation alone. The pace of technological change is simply too great.

Success will depend on networks of expertise working together. For the UK, the opportunity is clear. We possess world-class universities, a vibrant technology sector and an experienced defence industrial base, and when these elements are connected effectively, the result is a powerful innovation ecosystem capable of delivering sovereign advantage.

Combining scale and agility

Achieving that outcome requires deliberate design. Collaboration must be structured, sustained and aligned with real operational needs – including procurement, where Government must recognise the benefits of cooperative development. When done well, scale-up collaboration does more than accelerate innovation; it also strengthens industrial resilience, supports high-value employment and ensuring that British ingenuity translates into deployable capability.

By bringing together the creativity of high-growth technology companies with the integration expertise and industrial strength of established defence partners, the UK can ensure that innovation does not remain in the laboratory, but becomes deployable capability. When scale and agility work in concert, British innovation can translate into real operational advantage.

This article is the opinion of the author and not necessarily that of the UK Defence Journal. If you would like to submit your own article on this topic or any other, please see our submission guidelines