Written evidence submitted by Spirit AeroSystems, relating to  
Defence Spending in Northern Ireland inquiry (DSN0003)  

Spirit AeroSystems welcomes the opportunity to respond to the Northern Ireland Affairs Committee’s inquiry into ‘Defence Spending in Northern Ireland.’

As one of the world’s largest aerospace companies, Spirit AeroSystems is a global design and manufacturing powerhouse. Our advanced manufacturing capabilities in the UK includes world-leading technological expertise in advanced composites and novel wing technologies, and we are continuously developing and improving our processes and technologies.

Our presence in the UK spans over 100 years and we have inherited a rich history and extensive national footprint, including key manufacturing and research & development (R&D) facilities in Belfast, Northern Ireland, and Prestwick, Scotland. We employ over 4,600 people in the UK, with more than 3,500 in our Northern Ireland operations alone, a high percentage of whom are skilled aerostructure engineers and operatives delivering world-leading products in the civilian and defence sectors, including for global export. We have around 800 approved UK suppliers, including a robust Northern Ireland supply chain, and our customers include the Ministry of Defence (MOD), leading UK aerospace and defence primes, and international defence customers. 

We are actively investing in and growing our UK defence portfolio and exploring opportunities to contribute further to the expansion of the UK space sector. Our defence work includes future unmanned platforms; our collaboration on Team Tempest to deliver the UK’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS); our contribution to the H175M Task Force consortium, which is competing to fulfil the MOD’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) requirement;  our support to the UK’s hypersonics programme; and missionised aerostructures for international defence customers.

As one of Northern Ireland’s largest manufacturers and major investors, we continue to support high-value jobs and skills through the development of new disruptive technologies. This includes the design and manufacture of the award-winning wings for the Airbus A220 aircraft, which represents the single largest inward investment in Northern Ireland. We have also developed and designed the wings for Airbus’s CityAirbus NextGen all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) prototype. We firmly believe that the UK’s position as a world-leading innovator in civil aerospace technologies can have a positive impact on the future of UK defence products and its industrial base.

We recently gave written and oral evidence to the Defence Committee’s inquiry into ‘Future Aviation Capabilities,’ and welcome the opportunity to comment on the issues raised by this inquiry. We look forward to continuing to champion Northern Ireland’s role in the UK’s defence industrial base.

REGIONAL INEQUALITIES

Northern Ireland’s dynamic defence sector is primed to deliver and safeguard the UK’s sovereign industrial capabilities over the long-term, and defence spend is an important part of this. Defence spending plays a key role in supporting regional economies by promoting employment and the development of specialist knowledge, skills and expertise. However, stark regional inequities continue to be hardest felt in Northern Ireland.

Northern Ireland still has the lowest Ministry of Defence (MOD) regional spend per person in the UK. In 2022/23, it was £100 per person, compared to an overall UK average of £370 per person - an increase of £20 per person from the previous year (2021/22). The total defence procurement spend in Northern Ireland is still significantly lower than any other region. In 2022/23, it was £190 million – equating to 0.76% of the total defence spend in the UK – compared to £6,350 million for the South East of England, which currently has the highest procurement spend.

A number of factors continue to contribute to this imbalance and the ongoing low level of defence spend for Northern Ireland, including the geography and distance of the region from policymakers in London; a lack of understanding of Northern Ireland’s distinct capabilities by policymakers that could build further regional resilience to the defence sector industrial base; and modest political attention to the region by decision-makers in Westminster.

Despite having the lowest defence procurement spend in the UK, Northern Ireland has a vibrant industry with specialist knowledge, skills and expertise in defence and aerospace which can be better exploited. Our site in Belfast is home to world-leading composites development and manufacturing. We utilise our extensive expertise in advanced composites to develop lightweight and aerodynamically efficient products for more sustainable mobility solutions in aerospace and defence.

We are also a key industrial partner in the Northern Ireland Advanced Composites and Engineering Centre (NIACE), having supported its establishment. The purpose-built centre serves as a technology hub for the research and development of advanced engineering and advanced materials technologies across a range of industrial sectors, including aerospace, automotive, defence, environmental and marine. The centre forms part of the Belfast City Deal’s Advanced Manufacturing and Innovation Centre (AMIC).

We are currently working with a range of industry partners on future hypersonics technology with a view to supporting future UK and allied capability requirements in hypersonic strike. As a UK industry leader in aerothermal structural analysis, structure design and test capabilities, we will continue to contribute to this growing capability area. We also have strong relationships from a long history of successful collaborations with local academic institutions, such as Queen's University Belfast and Ulster University.

There are clear opportunities to leverage Northern Ireland’s untapped potential, including Spirit AeroSystems’ novel advanced composite capabilities and lightweighting expertise, for future defence and aerospace programmes. Northern Ireland’s industrial base has an important role to play in the national defence enterprise and has the potential to contribute much more, but it must be supported by equitable UK defence spending.

NORTHERN IRELAND’S DEFENCE INDUSTRIAL BASE

Defence procurement decisions have a direct impact on the prosperity of the UK’s regions, and the strength of UK innovation and skills. Northern Ireland has a rich aviation heritage which stretches back over 115 years, and the region is home to one of the largest aerostructures companies in the world.

Spirit AeroSystems plays a crucial role in supporting the development of Northern Ireland’s defence and aerospace enterprise. Since 2020, we have been a proud collaborator on the Team Tempest programme to deliver the UK’s Future Combat Air System (FCAS). Within this collaboration, we bring our unique and innovative industry expertise to help develop ground-breaking concepts, technologies and test capabilities to secure the UK’s sovereign defence manufacturing capabilities in the air.

Our involvement with Team Tempest will support a pipeline of new talent and skills in Belfast to meet a new era of flight. This includes skilled aerostructure engineers and manufacturers supporting the delivery of the UK’s next generation combat aircraft. Our potential workshare on Team Tempest will also benefit from the support of well-established local supply chains across Northern Ireland, which will bring their own expertise, innovation, and skills to support the UK’s combat dominance in the air.

We also previously led Project Mosquito, the Royal Air Force's future uncrewed combat aircraft technology demonstrator as part of the Lightweight Affordable Novel Combat Aircraft (LANCA) programme until its managed close in June 2022. Within this programme, we were tasked with the design and manufacture of an Autonomous Collaborative Platform (ACP) to de-risk the future LANCA programme, which would support the RAF’s F-35B, Typhoon and future TEMPEST aircraft from 2035.

We are currently in the process of growing our UK defence portfolio and actively exploring opportunities to contribute further to the UK’s sovereign defence manufacturing capabilities. Our current defence work includes our involvement in the Airbus H175M Task Force, a four-nation team of specialists which aims to provide the UK’s New Medium Helicopter (NMH) requirement.

The Airbus H175M is a high capability, low risk solution for the New Medium Helicopter requirement, with the benefit of an outstanding technical and safety specification, exceptional value for money, low through-life costs, and a minimal training time requirement for pilots. If the Task Force bid to supply the new military helicopter wins, it will bring together expertise from across the UK’s aviation industry in an unprecedented collaboration between members of the H175M Task Force – Airbus, Boeing Defence UK, Babcock, Spirit AeroSystems and Pratt & Whitney Canada.

The H175M will be designed, manufactured and delivered in the UK, supported through-life by a UK supply chain, including in Northern Ireland. It will create c400 sustainable jobs across the UK, generate high-value engineering skills, and drive innovation in the UK helicopter industry. Our site in Belfast will play a key role in helping to shape the future of UK military rotorcraft, supporting the UK’s sovereign industrial base and contributing to levelling up, prosperity and growth across the Union.

The H175M also has the potential to reinvigorate the UK’s underperforming helicopter industry by addressing an export market estimated at c500 aircraft worldwide. As highlighted within the Defence and Security Industrial Strategy (DSIS)[1], the Defence Command Paper refresh[2] and the new ‘Integrated Procurement Model’[3], exportability should remain central to future decisions for any new capability programme. The importance of exportability was again highlighted in the MOD press release announcing the Invitation to Negotiate for the New Medium Helicopter bid[4]. The MOD has also recently clearly articulated the importance of Social Value (benefit to local and wider community) and that for future contract award they are ‘looking to incentivise a strong commitment to the UK industrial base’[5].

SKILLS AND CAPABILITIES

All of the above activities and programmes are supported by our skills in advanced manufacturing and engineering, which can be applied across commercial aerospace and defence programmes, as well as in other sectors such as maritime. Skills and technologies generated in the civil aerospace sector are transferable to defence, and vice versa. Our expertise and ongoing research into the production and delivery of advanced lightweight aerospace components makes us a true catalyst for new skills, training and employment opportunities in defence and aerospace.

We currently employ over 4,600 people in the UK, a high percentage of whom are skilled aerostructure engineers and operatives delivering world-leading products in the civilian and defence sectors, including for global export. With a workforce of over 3,500 in Northern Ireland, we are one of the largest employers in the region, and one of the largest investors. We have a skilled and experienced local aerospace supply chain, and have been a long-term mentor of local suppliers through the industry’s SC21 supply chain development programme, helping them develop their capabilities, skills and competitiveness, and win new global work packages.

We support the development of skills in advanced manufacturing through our long-established apprenticeship programme across our sites in Northern Ireland and Scotland. We currently have over 150 apprentices at various stages of their training - 100 of whom are based in Belfast, and we will continue to grow these numbers to support the pipeline of new talent and skills required to meet a new era of flight. Recruitment is currently under way for intakes of new apprentices later this year, 40 of whom will join our Northern Ireland operations. In addition, we have a Graduate Programme, and a range of training programmes and upskilling initiatives to ensure our current workforce continue to develop their skills.

EXPORTS

Our global footprint, which includes Morocco, Malaysia, France, and the United States of America plays a crucial role in supporting the UK as a major industrial exporter of defence capabilities and aircraft components. We have extensive experience in exporting our products to NATO members and other allied nations, working closely with an international prime on missionised design and manufacture of structures in the ISTAR domain.

We play an important role in domestically supplying and driving the UK’s export-led growth from our sites in Belfast and Prestwick, and in 2022, our combined UK revenues totalled c£1 billion. However, our distinct capabilities in the UK, such as material optimisation, performance architecture, and testing should be utilised more to help deliver world-beating products for export. This includes promoting regional investment opportunities through defence-related exports. Only through close engagement with industry and a long-term pipeline of defence activity can we continue to increase exports of our distinct capabilities, products and services from Northern Ireland.

Additional support from Government on exports should also include early forecasting of requirements, which would help UK industry to increase its readiness to deliver at pace and build its resilience into the UK’s defence industrial base. Assessment of exportability in capability development and selection should be an integral part of any selection process, which if fully implemented, would bring more opportunities for international collaboration, boosting UK exports. Any new export collaboration would also increase industry’s confidence to make long-term investments that would strengthen the UK’s defence industrial base.

ROYAL UNITED SERVICES INSTITUTE REPORT

Northern Ireland has a number of industrial giants - which includes us, Harland & Wolff and Thales UK - and a vibrant community of SMEs. However, the defence and aerospace ecosystem in Northern Ireland needs to be better understood by policy and decision makers. The Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) published a report on ‘The Defence Industry in Northern Ireland: Leveraging Untapped Potential’ in June 2023. We sponsored the report, and it was launched in Parliament with the support of Lord Caine, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State at the Northern Ireland Office. Please find a copy, here, for your information.

The report explores the defence footprint and activity in Northern Ireland, and the challenges faced by industry, in particular SMEs in the region, many of whom feel defence is still a difficult market to access. As detailed in the report, Northern Ireland needs to be better integrated into the UK’s defence industrial base for defence to thrive further. Key recommendations which we support include the creation of regional programme hubs to provide better local representation in Westminster, a dedicated MOD team to better understand the defence enterprise and supply chains in Northern Ireland, and the development of more active clusters in Northern Ireland with defence interests.

It is important to create the right conditions for the long-term sustainment of the UK’s defence industry, including accelerating a more even distribution of defence investment across the nations and regions. This includes providing Northern Ireland with the same opportunity as other parts of the UK to fairly compete for more defence work, enabling it to live up to its true potential and thereby building further resilience within the UK’s defence industrial base

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