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The South West region is home to the UK’s largest aerospace cluster, featuring an extensive range of industries, capabilities, facilities and skills, and remains the second largest in Europe.
Invest Bristol + Bath highlights that the aerospace and advanced engineering sector in the West of England is valued at more than £2.7 billion. Spanning from Cornwall to Gloucester, it is a lesser-known fact that the South West of England is served by the major aerospace and defence primes, including: Airbus, Babcock, BAE Systems, Boeing, Collins Aerospace, Curtiss-Wright, Eaton, Elbit, GE, GKN, Honeywell, L3, Leonardo, Lockheed Martin, MBDA, Moog, Parker, Rolls Royce, Safran, Thales, and QinetiQ.
These companies not only span the breadth and depth of the region but also encompass the main domains from air, land, and sea, to cyber and space. Comprising a highly skilled workforce, outside of London and the South East, not only do these organisations provide millions to the UK purse and local economies, but they also provide world-leading capabilities that support the UK Armed Forces and the nation’s allies.
The primes are supported by over 150 small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) from across the West of England, this number is representative of the scope of WEAF membership comprising organisations that provide raw materials to those developing state-of-the art components and systems, that help deliver world-leading and state of the art capabilities.
Further to the UK Government’s recent green paper, Invest 2035: the UK’s Modern Industrial Strategy. HM Government is seeking feedback from industry and bodies on key sectors that will drive long-term growth through investment. When this is considered alongside the positioning of place within the Industrial Strategy to unlock the potential investment for regions and cities’ – the South West should be leading on the pitch for investment to sustain, grow, and create prosperity through and for its aerospace cluster.
The elevation of the South West and its contributing role to national prosperity must be made clear to the Government, the region must use the Strategy’s words and position itself as an area of “enormous untapped potential”.
The Strategy utilises some of its findings from the Centre for Cities report Climbing the Summit published in June 2024. Released ahead of this year’s G7, the main takeaway from the paper is prosperity is held outside of the capital city and HM Government should invest growth packages into major cities.
This is a narrow perspective which would only seek to benefit established city economies. Therefore, it is positive to see the Government not discounting regions, through its positioning of Place in the Strategy, such as the West of England with its rich potential in next generation technologies and future flight. These capabilities are growing from its existing aerospace and advanced manufacturing heritage but without investment; skills will move to larger cities. (see our upcoming Skills Overview in the South West)
WEAF considers the major defence primes and their recent economic reports, which detail spend in the local economy, where possible.
Leonardo, a major aerospace prime in the West of England, has been a cornerstone in the region for nearly 110 years, originally starting as Westland and building helicopters since the late 1940s. The manufacturer recently reported that it employs over approximately 2,800 at the company’s Yeovil helicopter facility in the South West. In addition, Leonardo from its UK helicopters site spends around £40 million with local suppliers in the local authority areas of Somerset and Dorset. Poised with major programmes, such as the UK New Medium Helicopter competition and the development of an uncrewed platform, if the manufacturer was to secure these contracts it would likely involve the local supply chain to meet demands of building the platforms for prospective customers.
With a further 300 people at its Bristol-based cyber security business, where it supplies services and technology to government agencies and private firms in both the civil and defence markets, nationally and globally. The prime broken down further that it spent £16 million with local suppliers, covering the local authorities of South Gloucestershire, North Somerset, Bath and North East Somerset, and the City of Bristol.
BAE Systems, one of the world’s largest defence contractors, has sites specialising in software development, communications technology and submarine engineering in Yeovil, Christchurch, and Weymouth, in addition to programme management alongside MOD staff outside Bristol. The prime also has Digital Intelligence offices located in Dorchester and Gloucester.
In accordance with the company’s latest Oxford Economics report, BAE has more than 1,660 people working across its six sites in the South West.
“In 2022, BAE Systems were estimated to have supported the employment of 9,500 workers in the South West of England. Of these, 4,400 were supported by BAE Systems’ supply-chain spending of over £400 million with almost 500 suppliers in the region.”
Airbus is a leading global aircraft manufacturer, which also has a significant presence in the South West with facilities in Filton, Bristol, which are involved in the design, development, and manufacturing of wings, fuel systems and landing gear systems. In 2022, the prime said it supported 18,500 jobs in the South West and in general half of its suppliers are SMEs. WEAF was unable to locate figures directly on its supply chain spend in the South West.
Boeing may be primarily associated with its facilities in the US, yet it has a significant presence in the South West. The company comments that it has partnerships with various suppliers and manufacturers in the region. Its Defence UK arm is closely located near the UK MOD Abbey Wood in Bristol, where the prime plays a key role in the defence aviation ecosystem. The company states it has spent £13.7 billion with its UK supply chain in almost ten years, the breakdown of this figure into the West of England could not be ascertained.
The importance of leading global aerospace and defence companies being situated within the region, not only results in a boost to the local economy and exports but, in, turn, it results in international investment through the parent companies of most of the primes spanning the US and Europe into the UK.
This consequently elevates the regional supply chain to a market outside of the domestic. This is helped further by the leading academic institutions within the region that are trailblazing on the technologies of tomorrow to the innovation centres in Somerset and Dorset, like iAero and Defence Battlespace.
The latter enable educational institutions, primes, MOD, and SMEs to come together to collaborate with the freedom of experimenting outside of industry’s gate to pioneer future technology for flight, whether that’s uncrewed, autonomous, or clean energy, as only a few examples.
We must act decisively to secure the investment and growth essential for advancing aerospace defence innovation in the region. The South West holds significant untapped potential.
By redirecting HM Government investment to the West of England through the upcoming Industrial Strategy, it can unlock further research and skills development, this will foster a supportive environment for the UK’s largest aerospace cluster that focusses on next generation programmes, enhances industry growth, and ensures supply chain security and opportunities.
For further information, please see the following sources:
https://www.gov.uk/government/news/industrial-strategy-launch-to-hardwire-stability-for-investors
https://www.gov.uk/government/consultations/invest-2035-the-uks-modern-industrial-strategy
About WEAF:
WEAF is the trade association for all companies operating in the Aerospace & Defence sector in the South West.
As one of the largest aerospace and advanced engineering clusters in Europe, we can provide a strong voice for our members, as well as representation and access to prominent regional, national and international decision makers in industry and government.
By providing support and new opportunities for our members, we strive to improve efficiency and effectiveness in the supply chain and bring stakeholders together to create one cohesive community.