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Britain’s biggest defense firms have joined calls for the UK to spend more on its armed forces.
In an unusual intervention, the British boss of Airbus, which employs 12,000 people in the UK, said the invasion of Ukraine had shown the sector could no longer be seen as a ‘nice to have’ sector. . The world’s largest aircraft manufacturer supplies essential military equipment, such as helicopters.
Ben Bridge told the Mail on Sunday: “The imperative for the UK to improve its defense spending and develop its sovereign defense capabilities is not simply a vanity project. This is the minimum requirement at this time to ensure that we fully anticipate the rapidly changing nature of warfare and that NATO remains unified against any potential threats.
David Lockwood, director of Babcock International, which provides training and equipment to the armed forces and is the sector’s second-largest contractor behind BAE Systems, said the war in Ukraine had “fundamentally changed assumptions about the risks we face.” confronted”.
Defense Secretary Grant Shapps has repeatedly called for defense spending to rise from 2.2 percent to at least 2.5 percent of national income.
Fly the flag: we launched a campaign for an immediate increase in funding for the armed forces
The Daily Mail has launched a campaign for an immediate increase in funding for the armed forces so Britain can deter further aggression from Vladimir Putin and counter growing global threats.
The campaign was supported by four former Defense Secretaries – Sir Michael Fallon, Sir Gavin Williamson, Sir Malcolm Rifkind and Lord Hammond.
Increased spending would impact Britain’s world-class defense sector, which employs almost 150,000 people.
But a report by the House of Commons Public Accounts Committee revealed a funding gap of up to £29 billion over the next decade, which MPs fear will lead to the scrapping of vital capital projects.
Shapps warned that the UK had moved from a “post-war world to a pre-war world” and criticized the Chancellor for failing to increase her support for the Budget. Charles Woodburn, Director of BAE Systems, said: “Devastating conflicts around the world demonstrate that the era of peace dividends is well and truly over. »
MoD says UK is spending record sums on defence, including £24bn extra between 2020 and 2025, with army deployed in ‘every’ NATO mission, supporting Ukraine and fighting Houthi attacks in the Red Sea.