Today’s UK-France Summit marked a significant step forward in defence and security cooperation.

We warmly welcome the update to the Lancaster House Treaties and look forward to working closely with government, industry and international partners as this collaboration develops.

The new ‘Entente Industrielle’ with France, under a refreshed Lancaster House agreement, includes:

  • Agreements on building the next generation of deep-strike, anti-ship missiles, to replace Storm Shadow
  • Upgrading the existing Storm Shadow cruise missile production lines at MBDA in Stevenage
  • Jointly developing the next generation of beyond visual range air-to-air missiles for the Royal Air Force
  • New partnership to develop high-tech radiofrequency weapons such as microwave weapons and jammers
  • The UK and France will also look to harness the power of AI to make their missiles and drones more lethal, by developing algorithms for synchronised strikes

Julie Marionneau, ADS Director of International Relations said: 

“This revitalised Lancaster House agreement should strengthen cooperation between the UK and France in terms of building bilateral industrial relationships, enhancing supply chain resilience, and reinforcing the foundation for enduring security and sustainable growth across the continent.

Since the previous bilateral summit, ADS have worked with our French counterparts to lead direct industry-to-industry dialogue. These conversations have laid important groundwork, forging mutual trust and shared ambition across our defence industrial bases. We are committed to building on this momentum and accelerating our efforts to help realise the political ambitions set by both governments.

Joint, innovative industrial programmes are central to advancing Europe’s warfighting readiness and deterrence posture. The regional security environment has dramatically changed in recent years, laying bare vulnerabilities and dependencies. Against this background, all of Europe has to take more responsibility and work together for its own defence.

For the agreements today to be a success, it is pivotal that we also secure concrete commitments to provide the clarity and predictability needed for joint projects, enabling businesses on both sides to pool funding, knowledge and capabilities. This would enable the innovative and dynamic defence sectors in the UK and France to act as force multipliers within a genuine European endeavour.”