H. Yoo
Research expert covering South Korea
Defense industry in the UK - Statistics & Facts
The Ministry of Defence (MOD) was the most important customer for many defense suppliers based in the United Kingdom. The security technology company QinetiQ Group was the most reliant on business with the government, generating around 60 percent of their revenue through sales to the MOD. Babcock International followed closely, at nearly 63 percent of their 4.83 billion British pound revenue for 2024/25.Â
The producer price index for air and spacecraft and related machinery shows that costs have steadily increased in the past seven years. Figures rose to nearly 120 in 2024 compared to the base year of 2015, proving that production had become more expensive in recent years. Nevertheless, the value of exports from the air defense sector specifically increased significantly between 2014 and 2023, reaching over 14.4 billion British pounds.
In 2024, the UK was estimated to have spent around 1,200 U.S. dollars per capita on national defense, which was more than its European allies France or Germany but less than half that reported by the United States. Military defense was the most common type of security spending by the UK public sector, at some 57 billion British pounds in 2024. By comparison, foreign military aid cost the public sector just under 3.5 billion British pounds around the same time.Â
In terms of weapons and ammunition trade, in the third quarter of 2025, 272 million British pounds worth of such items were imported into the country, noticeably more than in the same period the previous year. Cartridges and other ammunition sales by UK manufacturers amounted to almost 80 million British pounds in 2022, the highest it had been since 2008.
