Airbus Defence and Space UK Chairman Ben Bridge Talks Re-Arming Britain

Well, I think we're at an interesting point, and you know, we're in a year where Statrtic Defense Review is going to be coming out soon, we hope there'll be a defense Industrial strategy and the appointment of a National Armaments Director. So there are lots of important things happening where we'll get some clarity on how the UK and the government

So you think it's a pivotal year. Then are you doing anything to ramp up in the UK now or are you awaiting all of those reviews and the contracts to arrive.

So we have a sizable presence as Airbus, Defense and Space UK here already. We have about three and a half people, most of those are across two sites Stevenage and Portsmouth designing and building satellites and we're well set now for what we need to do. The question, I guess will be what further opportunities or requirements will come from the government, and will be ready to ramp up, as you say, and ready to increase and invest ourselves if that were to happen.

Do you think that the UK can keep up with European defense spending commitments?

Well, John Heedy has said recently that he wants to be part of that increased spend and those various economic mechanisms that the European Union is putting into place. I guess we'll hear more of that at the forthcoming UK EU summit. But no, the UK is very well placed to be, as it always has been a central part of European security and defense.

That's more of a testament to how little others are spending, though in some sense, is that the UK is so high in the NATO pack of spending.

Well, I think all countries at the moment are looking at how much they need to spend, and most countries are talking about increasing their spend.

When do you think that we'll see new money flow from the UK government and specifically for you at a PUS, When do you think that money will start flowing?

Well, they're talking about increasing to spend of GDP to two and a half percent by twenty twenty seven. We know that Trump has asked NATO members to go between three and a half and five percent, is what we're hearing, So we'll see how the UK responds to that, and I guess as part of the UK EU Summit and then the NATO Summit in June, we might hear some more detail from the UK and other countries.

So it sounds like you're poised. There's not much.

Detail, We're poised, and the detail and the direction it seems encouraging and we look forward to hearing from the Defense Review more.

Detail in terms of the capabilities. Obviously, you know the rhetoric as you mentioned, and the idea of rebuilding and building up defense spending is there, but then the capacity and the capabilities then do take time. What we are seeing though from Blue Big Data is that backlogs we know for the big defense companies yours included in the US, in the UK and in Europe are increasing. Are your backlogs rising here in the UK as there is more pressure now to build and deliver.

Not particularly we're as I say, we're well poised to deliver what we're already working on both on the defense and indeed the commercial side, and we're ready and set to invest more if that's required with future orders or commitments from the UK. I mean, what we have in the UK at the moment is a fantastic capability in space. You know, for fifty years, Airbus Defense and Space has

What does a war ready Breton look like from your perspective? The Prime Minister Kissed Arma has vowed to return Britain to war fighting readiness.

So space is at the center of today's war fighting capabilities. Some people refer to it as the ultimate high ground. It's the place that you operate from, where you see more and where of course you can communicate most effectively from.