WEAF to highlight South West's capabilities at DSEI
Above: An RAF Chinook.
By Martin Hibberd / copyright Shutterstock
The South West region is home to a significant number of primes and tier-1 companies, including Airbus, Leonardo, Rolls-Royce, Boeing, Safran, GKN, Honeywell, Moog, Babcock, BAE Systems, Collins Aerospace, Curtiss-Wright, Eaton, GE, L3, Lockheed Martin, MBDA, Parker, Serco, Supacat, Thales,and QinetiQ. Furthermore, SMEs are a vital part of this defence ecosystem which feed into the respective supply chains of the primes and directly support the operational functions of the UK Ministry of Defence.
There are more than 2,000 companies specialising in aerospace advanced manufacturing and engineering, and defence technology systems throughout the South West. Following the publication by HM Government of the Strategic Defence Review, the South West region is ready to develop future capabilities for the UK Armed Forces.
The region supports tens of thousands of defence-related jobs within the supply chain and defence forces, while also attracting funding and investment into R&D programmes. The next decade will see significant capability development in autonomous platforms and systems, alongside AI, cyber and digital warfare technologies.
Colin Turner, WEAF CEO, commented: “The South West of England has the capacity and technologies to support the future force. We have an experienced and strong supply chain that supplies from the South West to the world.”
