Leading defence chiefs are urging Britain to ramp up military spending as the threat of war grows across the world.
Bosses at Airbus and Babcock have called for greater UK investment in defence, amid Russia’s war in Ukraine and the prospect of a second Donald Trump presidency.
Ben Bridge, global head of space and defence at Airbus, said military spending must be prioritised at a time when “war is very much on our doorstep”.
He said there was “a need for the UK and other nations to take those threats seriously and then respond appropriately.”
Babcock chief David Lockwood separately called for greater defence spending, warning that Britain needed sovereign capabilities in order to defend itself from threats to its values.
He said: “I do think this is the first time in my lifetime when we’re not taking Western freedoms for granted. Because even in the Cold War, frankly, we were either going to be free or blown to smithereens – we weren’t under threat in the way we are now.”
It follows demands from Grant Shapps to raise defence spending to 2.5pc of GDP, up from 2.2pc now.
Former prime minister Boris Johnson has also called for a boost to Britain’s defence budget, as he said last week that “now is the moment for an even more robust posture”.