The aerospace, defence, security and space sectors added £46.8 billion to the UK economy in 2025, a 65 per cent increase over the past decade, according to new figures from the trade association ADS.
The data shows the sectors generated almost £110 billion in turnover last year, up 62 per cent since 2015, while employment grew by nearly 40 per cent to reach 468,500 people, including 29,000 apprentices. Productivity across the combined sectors stood at £99,900 output per worker, ADS said, nearly a quarter higher than the UK average.
Exports grew by more than two-thirds over the decade to reach £50 billion, now accounting for 45 per cent of sector turnover, and ADS said two-thirds of the sectors’ jobs are located outside London and the South East, with the largest regional employment in the South East, the South West and London.
Within that total, ADS’s defence sector figures show turnover of £36.5 billion, up 66 per cent over the decade, and value added of £15.8 billion, up 70 per cent, with 189,500 people employed, a rise of 35 per cent. Defence exports, calculated on a five-year average, reached £10.8 billion, up 34 per cent over ten years and now accounting for around a third of the sector’s revenue, while private investment in defence research and development reached £4.3 billion, up 187 per cent over the decade, and productivity reached £83,400 per worker. The aerospace sector recorded turnover of £41.5 billion and value added of £14.3 billion, with 113,000 employees, while the security and resilience sector reported turnover of £27.6 billion and 149,500 employees. Space sector figures, which run on a longer reporting lag, show turnover of £18.6 billion and 55,500 employees for 2022/23, the most recent year available.
Kevin Craven, CEO of ADS Group, said: “After a period of significant economic and geopolitical uncertainty, our industries have demonstrated remarkable resilience and continue to serve as the industrial foundation on which our nations rely upon. The contribution our sectors make to the economy, and to communities across the UK, continues to grow, supported by an expanding and highly skilled workforce.”
Craven also struck a note of caution about what comes next. “We are now at a pivotal moment. To sustain this momentum, industry needs clarity and certainty from government. Rising business costs, constrained access to finance and persistent supply chain pressures continue to hold back the full potential of our sectors. If we are to unlock future growth and drive investment in overseas markets, bold and decisive action is needed now more than ever,” he said.
The figures land in the same week the government has announced a run of new defence commitments, including the UK-led $50 billion European deep precision strike initiative, the £2.4 billion amphibious ship partnership with the Netherlands, and the £4.6 billion GCAP contract, all of which flow through the same industrial base ADS represents. The trade body’s own figures show defence exports rising even as the sector faces what Craven described as rising costs and constrained finance, a tension the Defence Investment Plan’s new £50 billion export finance facility and its energetics and munitions factory programme are intended to address.
ADS’s data is compiled from the Office for National Statistics, Oxford Economics, the Department for Business and Trade, the Ministry of Defence and other sources, with 2025 figures presented as first estimates and the space sector’s data understood to lag by around three years.
