Photos from the ADS Annual Dinner can be found here.

Good evening Ladies, Gentlemen – we are delighted to welcome so many guests – invited or otherwise – who care so deeply about the UK’s fabulous aerospace, defence, security and space sectors.

2026 has been an auspicious year already. It follows in the wake of a different 2025 – where our sectors had more attention than they (or we) ever anticipated.

We did have good news – particularly in the Industrial Strategy and Strategic Defence Review. The long awaited policy direction and clarity for advanced manufacturing is appreciated, alongside clearly defined roadmaps for a whole-of-society approach to our deterrence posture. It has been a shift in the right direction, and one which every person in this room can be grateful for.

We thank our partners in government for their support, and we acknowledge the progress made so far.

That being said, things are obviously not completely rosy.

We do hope to see some early movement on delivery mechanisms, on spending and ultimately, action on the plans proposed.

But today is not a day to bemoan what is missing.

Rather than focus on the state of the world, the ongoing war in Ukraine, on geopolitical pivots and an international order that shifts beneath our very feet, today, I’d like to talk about partnerships.

Indeed, the headlines have been focussed on a potential breakdown in many relationships, special or otherwise – and that’s before you mention the Beckhams.

Our sectors underpin so much of our economy – over £40 billion in value add, and £100bn in revenue.

They form the livelihoods of 450,000 working people across the country – and three times that, indirectly, and deliver exports totalling more than £45 billion.

We are in industries that truly understand how each partnership, each collaboration, each individual, is pivotal to our entire ecosystem.

Success in advanced manufacturing requires a whole-of-society approach.

As ADS, we have been privileged to partner with many – industry, academia, government, civil service, media, the public – in some way for over 110 years, starting out as the Society of British Aerospace Companies, the Defence Manufacturers Organisation, and the Association of Police and Security Suppliers.

With that in mind, I turn first to our most important partnership: the industries we represent.

It is our honour today to represent over 1800 members – innovative, entrepreneurial businesses that are found at the heart of local communities throughout the country

These businesses – some big, many small, some family run – underpin the engineering excellence and innovation that the UK is renowned for.

It is up to us to celebrate that both with you and for you, but also to challenges the ecosystem to progress, creating the UK’s globally competitive edge.

Through partnership with local authorities, regional communities, and business leaders across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales, we constantly seek to offer more, and to deliver services that matter to you, wherever you are.

Recently, there has been a new (and exciting) development – and we’re delighted to announce that following an approach by their Board last year, the West of England Aerospace Forum, or WEAF – who so strongly represent the South West’s ecosystem – will shortly become our latest regional venture, ADS South West.

ADS South West joins our Scotland and Northern Ireland offices, whose development has been so important for progress for our members, and indeed our industries.

Those industries are expanding – with new technologies providing new realms of possibilities. We’re delighted to have today signed an MoU with ARPAS, our counterparts in the drone industry, to forge an ever-closer industrial working partnership.

With that expansion in services and members , I turn to our next critical partnership: the one we have with government.

It is built on mutual trust, on understanding – and sometimes, with some pretty tough love.

We are grateful to the support of those ministers in the room – some of whom you will hear from shortly – from the parliamentarians, peers, backbenchers, officials and advisors from Westminster, Holyrood, Stormont and the Senydd respectively.

It is only through partnership with government that effective support to our sectors can be delivered.

And so I turn to my third and final partnership of note this evening – the partnership we have with the wider world.

Exports across aerospace, defence, security and space grew by half in the last decade.

Critics may argue that a lack of demand in the domestic market is feeding this, but I disagree. Industry disagrees.

UK-made equipment, aircraft parts, security structures, and satellites are truly excellent.

The UK is a reliable and valued player in an increasingly unstable geopolitical environment. We are trusted by our allies, our actions matter, and most importantly for our sectors, the UK’s advanced manufacturing capabilities are globally recognised.

Recent years have taught us just how important the UK’s partnership with NATO is – and just how detrimental a destabilisation of this alliance would be not just to the economy, but our world order.

Later this year, ADS will deliver the NIAG plenary – that is the NATO Industry Advisory Group, for those without A-levels in acronyms.

Which will certainly make for an interesting meeting.

NATO is one alliance, but there are many.

Given the context of a war in Ukraine, and an urgent need to reach warfighting readiness, we keenly await the Defence Investment Plan.

In aerospace, we are working hard to help deliver a potential £250 billion in value for the UK economy in the 16,000 aircraft order backlog ,while also focussing on developing new technologies and competitive pricing for the Next Generation Single Aisle programme, which will be crucial for our industry

We will shortly hear from two of those vital supporters in government– from the Department for Business and Trade, Minister Chris McDonald, and from the Ministry of Defence, Minister Luke Pollard.

Before I hand over to our esteemed guests, I will take another opportunity to thank you all for your partnership – whether industry, government, or our valued international guests, thank you for your trust , and thank you for being here this evening.