Delivering at the heart of Scottish Communities

At a time of increasing geopolitical uncertainty, and when technology is evolving rapidly, Scotland is uniquely placed to step up and play a crucial role in driving national resilience, economic growth and domestic capability.

Already, Scotland has marked itself out as a leader across all four of our sectors: aerospace, defence, security and space. These sectors are at the cutting edge of technology, delivering 36,900 highly skilled, highly paid Scottish jobs and £3.7 billion gross value add (GVA) to the Scottish economy in 2024.

Amidst anaemic national economic growth statistics, our sectors have bucked the trend and delivered sustained growth of 55% in value add to the Scottish economy over the last five years, setting a model for the rest of the economy that should be exploited by Scotland’s political establishment.

A Manifesto for Scotland

Our sectors can do so much more with the right policy interventions from government. That is why ADS wants to see the next Scottish Government play to Scotland’s existing strengths.

We are proud of our sectors, ambitious for their future and seek a Scottish Government that will share our pride and ambition.

The number of opportunities is only going to increase as we look to exploit the benefit of new technologies and lead the transition to net zero. 

To deliver for Scottish communities, the aerospace, defence, security and space sectors require the Scottish Government to:

  • TAKE DECISIVE ACTION – to address the skills crisis. Increasing the number and type of apprenticeships will deliver an economic dividend at a time of sluggish growth.
  • SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY – to demonstrate hydrogen and battery electric flight in Scotland, including by establishing end-to-end trials for new aerospace technologies.
  • DEMONSTRATE INVESTMENT – in the defence sector, including in munitions, recognising that the investment legitimately supports national self-defence and domestic capability.
  • SUPPORT TECHNOLOGY ADOPTION – that will deliver a step change in national productivity and safeguard Scotland’s reputation for manufacturing excellence.
  • PARTNER WITH ADS – to fully exploit our sectors’ export potential in Scotland via a series of trade missions, driving ‘Brand Scotland’ and leveraging private investment.

 

Our full vision is outlined in our Scottish Manifesto:

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