On 17 July 2025, The United Kingdom and Germany signed a historic bilateral treaty – dubbed the Kensington Treaty – marking the most comprehensive defence and strategic cooperation agreement between our two nations since World War II.
ADS CEO, Kevin Craven and Marie-Christine von Hahn, Principal Managing Director of German Aerospace Industries Association (BDLI), commented:
Chancellor Merz’s visit to London this week is both welcome and critical at a time of global uncertainty. On behalf of the UK and Germany’s industries respectively, we welcome the firm commitment to readiness, deterrence and defence and security that this agreement brings. This week’s announcement marks a significant step towards bringing our defence industries even closer together and strengthening collaboration, innovation and security within Europe and NATO.
We particularly welcome the joint defence industrial action plan’s focus on advancing Deep Precision Strike capabilities, enhancing UK–Germany cooperation on uncrewed aerial systems, forging a strategic land systems partnership including the BOXER collaboration, RCH 155 artillery and expanding efforts to counter undersea threats and develop shared offboard systems for Future Ground Combat.
As we work across borders to effectively integrate our supply chains, create joint collaboration programmes and bring down regulatory barriers, our industries stand ready to help deliver on key projects that will strengthen this partnership and bolster our collective defence capabilities.
