How Sunak’s defence spending pledge could reshape arms industry

Trevor Taylor, defence industries director at the Royal United Services Institute think tank, argues that such commitments could take up a lot of the extra spending, not least to make them affordable. However, it is not that straightforward. “It is clear from Ukraine that deterrence must involve western forces that can conduct a sustained conventional war,” he said. “That has great implications for stock levels and industrial capacity. Then there is the big challenge of how established types of platforms and infrastructure can best be protected against novel systems including uncrewed air systems, cheap ballistic missiles and offensive cyber.”