Defence News – Early November 2025
Estimated reading time 3 minutes
Rolls-Royce has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the State of Victoria, Australia, to collaborate on developing the region’s defence industry skills, supply chain and innovation ecosystem in support of the AUKUS submarine programme.
The partnership will focus on developing nuclear skills, including exploring the creation of Rolls-Royce-affiliated skills and training academies in Victoria. This would build on the success of the Rolls-Royce Nuclear Skills Academy in Derby, which opened in 2022 and trains up to 200 apprentices each year to support the UK’s Royal Navy.
Defence group Leonardo UK has said its Somerset helicopter factory is under threat if it does not secure a contract with the Ministry of Defence worth £1bn.
The Italian-owned group’s Yeovil-built, medium-sized AW149 helicopter was announced last summer as the sole contender to replace the Pumas used for decades by the Royal Air Force.
The company submitted its ‘best and final’ offer to the MoD this spring but says it is still waiting for a final decision. It is understood that, if the contract is secured, the aircraft will be built at the Yeovil site, which employs more than 3,000 people.
Defence group BAE System has reported a strong second half period in terms of rising sales, as defence concerns pick up pace across the globe.
The group manufactures Typhoon fighter aircraft in Lancashire and nuclear submarines in Barrow-in-Furness. It also has sites in Bristol, Yeovil, Weymouth and Dorchester involved in processes ranging from warship design to cyber warfare.
Today the group revealed a strong operational and financial performance which underpins its full-year guidance. It enjoyed positive momentum in order intake with more than £27bn secured so far and further agreements anticipated before the end of the year.
A South West-based defence engineering company is to enter into a partnership agreement with a manufacturing giant to make a range of light and medium protected vehicles – a deal which could bring hundreds of jobs to the area with a potential multimillion-pound order book.
Devon-based Supacat is to enter into a partnership agreement with KNDS Deutschland GmbH & Co. KG (KNDS) which could see many hundreds, if not thousands of military vehicles, being made.
Under the agreement, which is a collaboration on the UK Ministry of Defence’s (MoD) Land Mobility Programme (LMP), the two companies will work together to offer solutions in the light and medium/ Heavy protected mobility categories, centred on the proven Dingo 3 platform and Armoured Command and Liaison Vehicle (ACLV) variants.
