Jobs supported by defence spending on weapons and ammunition manufacturing rose by 51 per cent across the United Kingdom in 2024/25, according to figures published by the Ministry of Defence on Friday.
The increase amounts to 2,000 additional posts, taking the total to 5,900 across the manufacture of weapons, ammunition and military fighting vehicles.
According to the department, the rise reflects a drive to rebuild what it calls a sovereign, always on pipeline of munitions supply, so that artillery and missiles can be produced at greater scale domestically. It describes that capability as central to warfighting readiness and deterrence while creating skilled manufacturing jobs.
Luke Pollard, Minister for Defence Readiness and Industry, said: “These figures show that a rising defence budget is creating more good jobs across the UK. Defence is an engine for growth and our investments are driving reindustrialisation. As we increase our military readiness and capabilities we are generating good well-paid jobs nationwide.”
The 51 per cent figure is the sharpest movement in the statistics, which otherwise record MOD expenditure with industry of £31.9 billion in 2024/25 supporting 274,000 jobs across the country.
Munitions production has been among the most exposed weaknesses in Western defence since 2022. Artillery consumption in Ukraine has run at rates no European producer was sized for, and states discovered that output could not be raised quickly because plants had been closed, tooling scrapped and specialist suppliers lost across three decades of low demand. Explosive fill and propellant, rather than shell bodies, proved the tightest constraint.
The Strategic Defence Review of 2025 identified magazine depth as a weakness across the British armed forces, and the government has committed to a series of new energetics and munitions facilities.
