DSEI 2025: UK government fluffs its lines at landmark event

Industry did its part, turning up with new platforms, technologies, and capabilities in such variety that any military in need of modernisation would surely find something to fit.

The venue followed suit, with DSEI providing expanded floor space and welcoming tens of thousands of visitors throughout the week. Planned protests were kept at arm’s length as delegates flocked the concourses.

However, caught in a political firestorm at the start of what UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer called ‘Phase 2’ of the current parliament, the UK government singularly managed to miss the dunk, slice the drive, or otherwise fail to capitalise on the opportunity that the platform provided.

A leading keynote had to be switched late on after the Minister for Defence Procurement and Industry Maria Eagle was removed from her position just prior to the show, part of the emergency reshuffle brought about by the departure of Angela Rayner from government amid a housing tax scandal.

The absence of Eagle at the event was a loss, with the former minister seen to be supportive of DSEI 2025.

Provided such an immense variety of industrial endeavour and on a global platform, it is hard to imagine allies in Europe or North America failing to make a statement of intent.

Instead, the pre-loaded announcement by UK Defence Secretary John Healey on 11 September that the UK would produce thousands of drones for Ukraine highlighted a potentially unintended bias towards fiscal gain over UK military capability.

Industry needs actions more than words

Not that there aren’t requirements in the UK military. The Land Mobility Programme (LMP) has been rumbling along, with industry left hanging for months with little understanding as to when tenders would be issued. Elsewhere, the Warrior IFV will leave service by the 2027 iteration of DSEI.

In the naval domain, noticeable by its absence was the customary Type 23 frigate moored alongside, with Royal Navy participation at the show comprising an Archer-class cadet training vessel, and the old Batch 1 fisheries patrol vessel HMS Mersey (oddly misspelled as HMS Mercey in official literature). With the RN’s Type 23 fleet down to just eight vessels, only two or three of which will be active, it’s little wonder at their absence at DSEI.

And what of the vaunted follow-on from the Type 31 frigates, the Type 32? Nothing. Still in concept phase and every chance that it will be cut at the upcoming budget, axeing in a single swing the opportunity to actually grow the RN surface fleet for the first time in decades.

Unless the UK government want to argue that its low of eight frigates will in fact grow to 13 once the Type 26 and Type 31 fleets are in service, up from its historic low, depending on how fast the spin machine turns.

Oddly, the UK did have a significant naval contract award it could have used as a landmark deal announcement, with Norway selecting the Type 26 design for its new frigates a week or so prior to the show.

In the air domain, what can be said of the New Medium Helicopter programme? Sources have spoken to Army Technology on their unease at the lack of clarification, as an Autumn Budget appears more and more certain to claw back funds to the Treasury in order to keep the lights on at home.

Will the Autumn Budget swing the scythe?

It is notable that the stickiest headlines provided by the UK government regarding the flagship defence exhibition in the UK was its decision to bar official Israeli government delegations from attending, drawing mainstream media coverage.

Rather, DSEI 2025 appears to have been used by the UK government to talk about economic growth, with defence central to this aim. This means providing routes for SMEs and newcomers to the defence sector with improved access to business and harnessing the innovation that more agile companies and those in the commercial space are able to pursue.

All laudable ambitions, which will provide benefits to the country’s dire fiscal state.

But the UK military is in a militarily perilous condition, unable to fight meaningfully at sea, incapable of large-scale conflict on land, and lacking the depth of inventory to dominate the air.

While references to Project Greyburn or Challenger 3, the LMP, Types 26 and 31, MRSS, FSS, and innumerable other acronyms point to plans to modernise the military, none of these will provide capability in any depth until the back end of the decade, if ever, should the Herald of the Autumn Budget drop the scythe on the UK military aspirations.