Sustaining sovereign defence manufacture in context of UK defence is not about profit or ROI, though that's ok too. Its core is maintaining that critical mass for training the next cohort and maintaining both the theoretical and practical design/build/operate feedback loops.
Arguably, if sovereign defence manufacturers cannot sustain themselves with UK defence work, the MOD should be taking on an element of their functions and bringing them back in-house. Foreign kit and TTP's may not always fit our needs and that's a security issue in of itself.
We should be considering this in the likes of the IR directly and if cuts need to be made to accommodate it then this what to save - it is arguably more important to preserve an ability for long term design/regeneration when we are looking at having to cut back in the short term.
It is always ok to bring in foreign designs, kit and even TTP’s. We have always done so and often successfully. It is important to do this objectively alongside our own facilities to determine if introduction is good enough. And that what we bring in sustains that feedback loop.
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