The UK Government has launched a £50 million Northern Ireland Defence Growth Deal aimed at helping small and medium-sized enterprises and start-ups break into the defence supply chain, with Defence Minister Luke Pollard visiting Belfast today alongside Northern Ireland Office Minister Matthew Patrick to meet local industry representatives and academics.
The deal is a collaboration between the Ministry of Defence, local companies and Queen’s University Belfast, creating a targeted programme to make it easier for smaller businesses to access defence contracts, with the government saying it will support hundreds of well-paid jobs and position defence as a driver of economic growth in the region.
Alongside the main investment, the government will provide additional funding for a skills initiative working with industry, colleges and universities to develop defence-related capabilities including engineering and technology, with the aim of both supporting industry demand and creating more opportunities for students entering those fields.
The announcement comes as defence procurement in Northern Ireland has already been rising in recent years, driven largely by production of NLAW anti-tank missile systems at Thales’ east Belfast factory, with those weapons having seen significant demand following their widespread use by Ukrainian forces, and further growth expected once work begins on a naval support contract at the Harland and Wolff shipyard.
Northern Ireland has a long-standing aerospace and defence industrial base, and the deal is intended to build on that foundation by bringing smaller firms and newer entrants into a supply chain that has historically been dominated by larger primes, at a time when the broader increase in UK defence spending is creating new opportunities across the sector.
So are we just hearing about all the DIP details bit by bit or this a response to all the warnings of lost “investment” into their home country that won’t buy anything.