Planes, tanks and drones: Britain hosts DSEI 2025 and launches its Defence Industrial Strategy
The Cable | No. 36.2025
Welcome to the 59th Cable, our weekly roundup of British foreign and defence policy.
It has been a big week for defence. The Defence and Security Equipment International (DSEI) 2025 exhibition is taking place in London from Tuesday, 9th September, to Friday, 12th September, and will see some 45,000 attendees from 90 countries interact with the United Kingdom’s (UK) defence industrial suppliers, buyers and military. It was fitting, therefore, that the Ministry of Defence (MOD) should publish its Defence Industrial Strategy 2025 (DIS) this week.
The Defence Industrial Strategy – Statement of Intent of December 2024 was a great forecast for this document, since it highlighted six key areas. These were:
Making defence an engine for growth;
Backing UK-based industries;
Making Britain lead in innovation;
Developing a resilient industrial base;
Transforming procurement; and
Forging new partnerships across society and with allies.
Some initial thoughts are as follows:
First, much of the Strategy was presaged in the Strategic Defence Review (SDR); a fact noted repeatedly in the DIS. Elements such as innovation and integration feature heavily in both documents.
Second, the Strategy emphasised the ‘defence dividend’. While this is laudable, it seems a lost opportunity for political leadership to emphasise defence’s inherent value in an age of uncertainty.
Third, the DIS seeks to reform defence acquisition. However, defence acquisition reform has been carried out by nearly every recent government. What is different this time, and how will we know it has worked where others have not?
Fourth, the latter part of the Strategy has an implementation plan and a timeline. This is to be commended. Too many strategies have gone gently into the night without a plan or a timeline, only to be forgotten over time.
Time will tell as to how the DIS fares. We can suspect it will be more impactful than many others.
Welcome back to The Cable!
Sir Keir Starmer, Prime Minister, has carried out his first major reshuffle of his premiership, following the resignation of Angela Rayner, Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Housing. Of particular note was the move of David Lammy from Foreign Secretary to Deputy Prime Minister and Secretary of State for Justice, and his replacement with Yvette Cooper, who was formerly Home Secretary.
On 4th September, Sir Keir attended a virtual summit of the so-called ‘coalition of the willing’ to discuss potentially providing Ukraine with security guarantees following an end to hostilities. The Prime Minister stated that Vladimir Putin, President of Russia, ‘could not be trusted’, as he delays peace talks while simultaneously continuing to attack the embattled nation. He went on to emphasise that the coalition had ‘an unbreakable pledge to Ukraine’, with backing from Donald Trump, President of the United States (US), and that further action is needed to apply pressure on Putin to secure a cessation of hostilities, which includes partners supplying long-range missiles to Kyiv alongside other forms of military aid.
Also on 4th September, John Healey, Secretary of State for Defence, flew to Stavanger to sign a strategic partnership agreement with Tore O. Sandvik, his Norwegian counterpart, establishing the framework for closer cooperation in maritime capabilities. This agreement comes days after Oslo announced it would purchase at least five Type 26 frigates from Britain in a deal worth £10 billion. The new partnership will enable both nations to collaborate much more closely, with a Norwegian Government press release stating that, in practice, ‘we will have an integrated frigate fleet’. Following the signing, Healey said:
Our close bonds are built on a shared geography and history, and this deal will see our navies work as one, creating a combined fleet to defend NATO’s [North Atlantic Treaty Organisation] northern flank and strengthen our deterrence against Russian aggression.
On 8th September, His Majesty’s (HM) Government published the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS). It highlights five key areas for the country’s defence industry: supporting the sector as an engine for economic growth (the so-called ‘defence dividend’), especially outside London and the South East of England; backing British companies in the sector; placing a focus on ‘cutting-edge technologies’; hardening supply chains and reforming procurement processes to create a more resilient and efficient defence industry; and ensuring the UK enjoys strong international partnerships to enhance security and also open more markets to British defence exports. Upon its release, Healey made a statement, in which he said:
Our Defence Industrial Strategy will make defence an engine for growth, backing British jobs, British industry and British innovation. The UK has one of the most advanced and innovative defence industrial bases the world over, but we are in a new era of threat, which demands a new era for UK defence. To move to warfighting readiness to deter threats and strengthen security in the Euro-Atlantic, we will REFORM procurement, INNOVATE at wartime pace and GROW our industrial base.
On 9th September, the Defence and Security Accelerator (DASA) launched a £1.5 million competition to find new methods of addressing non-compressible haemorrhages (NCHs). An NCH refers to bleeding deep inside the body, and is a leading cause of death in conflicts. DASA aims to utilise the UK’s technological innovation to discover ways of mitigating the effects of NCHs, thus reducing wartime casualties.
For additional defence news stories, follow this link to the DSEI Gateway news portal.
Sir Richard Knighton, Air Chief Marshal, has officially taken over from Adm. Sir Tony Radakin as Chief of Defence Staff. With reforms to defence, the Chief of the Defence Staff will now command the service chiefs and is the head of the newly established Military Strategic Headquarters, responsible for force design and war planning across an integrated force.
Michael Shanks, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State (Minister for Energy), gave a speech last week at the Society of Petroleum Engineers’ (SPE) Offshore Europe Conference. He highlighted the role of the North Sea for Britain’s energy security, and argued that for the country’s sovereign energy and to mitigate the impacts of climate change, HM Government should support and pursue both renewable and fossil sources of power in the short term. Shanks went on to state that HM Government is making a significant investment in the North Sea, particularly in offshore wind, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and green hydrogen production, but clarified that support for communities focused on the production of fossil fuels will be protected during the transition.
How competitors frame Britain
Russia Today released comments from Nikolai Patrushev, presidential aide to Putin, claiming that the UK was likely behind the September 2022 Nord Stream pipeline explosions and sabotage in the Baltic Sea. Patrushev stated that ‘highly trained NATO special forces’ were behind the act, highlighting that the British Special Boat Service was an example of a unit possessing the ‘necessary skills’ to conduct the explosions. Such unfounded allegations are rich, given the steady wave of sabotage acts and disinformation campaigns we have seen deployed by Moscow across Europe in recent years.
TASS published a statement by the Embassy of Russia in London, calling the UK’s use of frozen Russian assets to fund Ukraine military aid ‘theft’. The embassy said using these assets to cover the purchase of weapons for Ukraine was ‘criminal seizure’ and ‘illegal in any jurisdiction’, warning that ‘any unfriendly steps against Russia and its legitimate interests will not go unanswered’, and cited it as understandable given Britain’s ‘increasing socio-economic problems’. These are intriguing comments, considering the recent warning issued by a Russian banking chief over the poor state of the nation’s economy.
Japan’s recent development in defence industry
By Takeshi Ishikawa, former Commissioner, ATLA, Ministry of Defence of Japan
Since Japan made a significant change to its defence equipment and technology transfer policy in 2014, DSEI has functioned as a core platform for exhibiting and introducing them to the world. Japan’s original attitude was gradual and cautious, but it has become more open due to changes in the recent international security situation. This also reflects Japan’s equipment and technology transfer policy.
Before 2014, Japan’s basic thinking was to withhold anything other than the bare minimum, because defence equipment and technology transfer could exacerbate international conflicts. However, considering the increasingly severe international security situation, such as Russia’s annexation of Crimea, Japan changed its equipment and technology transfer policy in 2014, adopting the view that it should engage in more proactive international cooperation.
Under this new policy, Japan can transfer defence equipment and technology to allies and partners under certain conditions, and with strict export controls. This was essential for Japan to cooperate internationally to realise a free, open and rule-based international order. Such equipment and technology cooperation, combined with other cooperation in policy and operation, creates robust international deterrence and stability.
In 2022, Japan revised its National Security Strategy and Defence Strategy, accordingly launching a more proactive equipment and technology transfer policy. This coincided with the launch of the Global Combat Aircraft Programme (GCAP); a programme for the joint development and production of a sixth-generation fighter by three strategic partners – Japan, the UK and Italy. To succeed in this pivotal and gigantic programme, it was absolutely necessary to facilitate the large-scale international transfer and sharing of advanced technologies.
Moreover, Japan embarks on a new equipment and technology transfer programme this year with Australia; another strategic partner. Though details are under negotiation, Australia will procure 11 frigates based on Japan’s latest stealth frigate, the Mogami class.
The Mogami class frigate is designed by MHI, Japan’s all-round defence company. It is difficult to detect by radar due to applying stealth technology from fighter jets. Additionally, while securing sufficient capacity to carry various weapons, the number of personnel is halved by automation. The Japanese Maritime Self-Defence Force (JMSDF) will procure 24 Mogami class frigates – making up almost half of its future surface combat fleet. In other words, both navies will operate this common ship as the core of their future maritime surface combat power, which will naturally lead to sharing various information – such as maintenance and sustainment information for roughly half a century of buildup and operation period.
This will render the Japan-Australia strategic partnership much more substantial. This upgrade of the strategic partnership is truly essential, and will undoubtedly strengthen deterrence and contribute to international peace and stability.
If you found this Cable useful, please subscribe or pledge your support!
What do you think about this Cable? Why not leave a comment below?
 | A guest post by
|
 | A guest post by
|
The UK is deeply implicated in Israel's genocide in Gaza. It's a stain that undermines our moral credibility and soft power. An absolute disgrace in my opinion.