Series Introduction

On 8 September 2025 the Government published the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS) with the objective of strengthening the UK’s industrial capability to deliver upon the Strategic Defence Review (SDR). The strategy sets out its plan across six priority outcomes:

  • Making Defence an Engine for Growth – read here
  • Backing UK Based Business – read here
  • Positioning the UK at the Leading Edge of Defence Innovation – read here
  • Developing a Resilient UK Industrial Base
  • Transforming Procurement and Acquisition Systems
  • Forging New and Enduring Partnerships

Members can read ADS’ initial briefing on the DIS here, which provides an overview of the strategy.

Introduction

The UK’s Armed Forces are only as strong as the industry that equips and sustains them; a statement amplified by today’s threat environment. Meeting NATO’s call to commit 1.5% of public spending to security and resilience adds both urgency and direction to this mission. By learning from adjacent industries and strengthening the partnership between Government and business through a whole-of-society approach, the DIS aims to ensure that when the next crisis comes, the UK’s industrial engine will be ready to move at pace and at scale. Crucially, the Strategy recognises that national resilience also depends on safeguarding the continuity of Critical National Infrastructure (CNI) and strengthening the UK’s economic security against hostile influence. Central to ADS’ submission to the DIS was this desire to build economic security into defence policy, integrating with wider trade and resilience strategies, such as the Resilience Action Plan.

Supply Chain Resilience

The strategy sets an objective in giving the UK’s industry the ability to pivot instantly from steady-state production to crisis-level surge. The Government’s £6 billion investment in munitions, including £1.5 billion for an “always-on” production pipeline, provides a vital industrial anchor. This investment comes with the commitment to build at least six new energetics factories from a shortlist of thirteen locations, providing the creation of at least 1,000 new jobs, with construction planned to start on the first in the next year. ADS has actively called for a long-term, cross-procurement-cycle defence pipeline and view this as a huge step in the right direction. It marks a crucial step toward ensuring that the UK’s deterrence rests not only on deployed capability but on the resilience of production itself. Yet while this commitment is welcome, the model must not stop at munitions. To build true readiness, government and industry must now explore how this “always-on” framework can be extended to other priority areas, from platforms and components to digital systems, ensuring that surge capacity becomes a defining principle across the entire defence enterprise.

To further realise the principle of surge capacity ADS asked for HMG to explore flexible factory concepts and undertake mapping of the skills and commonality in adjacent industrial sectors. The MOD have committed to maintaining flexible capacity, and the new Defence Supply Chain Capability Programme promises to overhaul how the MOD maps, manages, and strengthens its industrial ecosystem. Key to this will be an understanding of how best to measure resilience and capacity in the supply chain. ADS has been in conversation with the MOD regarding data sharing with the aim of assisting the development of this new programme. However, barriers around sharing commercially sensitive data still need to be overcome.

ADS asked in its submission that the Government review what reforms might be necessary to allow industrial cooperation at times of threat and crisis, to this the Government announced the Defence Readiness Bill (DRB) in the Strategic Defence Review (SDR). However, the DIS left us all hanging in anticipation, with no explanation of its contents or how it docks into the rest of the agenda.

A Collaborative Approach

Core to ADS’ submission was the need for the Government to build a whole-of-society approach to readiness and deterrence. It was encouraging to see the DIS frame resilience as a shared national endeavour. A new collaborative structure: the Defence Industrial Joint Council (DIJC) will identify barriers to rapid scaling, expose supply-chain vulnerabilities, and co-design practical solutions. Membership of DIJC’s working groups should expand to include adjacent industries such as automotive and advanced manufacturing, where agile production models can inform defence readiness. This Council must also draw more closely on the expertise of the security and resilience sector, including those focused on CNI protection, threat monitoring, and economic security risks. As the UK moves towards a more coherent Home Defence model, integrating defence industry, security partners, and CNI operators will be essential to understanding shared vulnerabilities and strengthening national readiness.

Meanwhile, lessons from the recent defence-industry wargame will be embedded into planning, ensuring industry is properly factored into readiness exercises, not left to scramble when crisis strikes. Wargames such as these are collaborative simulations which allow Government and industry to jointly play out how the UK’s industrial base might respond to a major crisis. ADS went further in its DIS submission to suggest that such wargaming activities should be utilised further by the MOD in order to expand their engagement with industry. As a result, we are delighted to see the plans for a second industry wargame.

There is a clear focus, too, on sustainable industrial resilience. A new long-term view on critical raw materials will apply circular-economy principles to recover, refine, and reuse high-value minerals and components. This is mirrored in the nuclear sector, where a £15 billion sovereign warhead programme, new SSN-AUKUS capacity, and the National Nuclear Strategic Plan for Skills will underpin the long-term workforce pipeline and planned ‘triple lock’ on deterrence; meaning the UK will build new submarines, keep a continuous patrol at sea, and invest in every future upgrade required to keep them operational.

Conclusion

Together, these reforms form the backbone of a new, more confident industrial posture; one where preparedness, partnership, and purpose are treated as the fifth domain of warfare. The test, as ever, will be in implementation. Nevertheless, the desire for real industrial security and resilience is unmistakable, but the route to get there is still more promise than plan.