The Ministry of Defence has said the majority of its equipment spending is placed with UK industry, while acknowledging it does not track the full origin of components or materials used in production, according to the department.
The statement was made in response to a written parliamentary question from Lee Anderson, Reform UK MP for Ashfield, who asked what proportion of equipment used by the British armed forces is made in the UK. Replying on behalf of the government, Defence Minister Luke Pollard said the department reports spending levels rather than the manufacturing origin of individual items.
“The Government is spending more of a rising defence budget with British companies,” he said.
Pollard said that in the 2024 to 2025 financial year, the Ministry of Defence spent £35.4 billion directly with industry, of which £31.7 billion was with UK-based companies. Of the total industry expenditure, £11.9 billion related to equipment, with £10.4 billion, or 87 percent, spent with firms based in the UK, according to the department. The minister added that while detailed regional spending data is published annually, the department does not centrally record where individual components or raw materials are sourced.
“The Department does not centrally track the origin of all raw materials used in the production of equipment,” Pollard said. The figures were taken from the Ministry of Defence’s latest regional expenditure statistics, published on the government’s website.
The current situation with Trump waving a big stick demonstrates where possible, the UK must build as much defence equipment at home as possible. The MOD must be concerned about shared US programmes, especially the deterrent and future RAF structure using F3A.
F35A
Worse for Denmark… They are fully transitioning to F‑35A as their only fighter jet, having retired their F‑16s. They currently have around 15 in service, with a planned total of 43.
More press releases, words, stats, figures, charts but bugger all new kit, its worse now than it was 3 years ago at leaset back then we had ammo and heavy Artillery,
A good number of the UK’s MoD contractors like Serco who have the sole rights to the blue ensign fleet and Landmark who have the sole rights to the training establishments are UK companies but the majority of their profits go to America as they are owned by American shear holders so for every £1 profit these companies generate 20p goes to the America economy. May I suggest that we have a similar set up to America were defence contractors profits have to stay in country either in the form of R+D or investment in infrastructure within the companies assets in the UK.