Alex Onoufriou, managing director of G&P Talent, explores the defence industry’s emerging skills gap, explains its potential impact on future growth ambitions and suggests why adopting expertise from other industries could offer a valuable long-term solution.
As a result of increased government spending (2.5% of GDP in 2025), widespread support of modernisation projects and the continued risk of geopolitical tension, the UK defence industry is growing at a remarkable pace. Indeed, according to insight from trade association ADS Group, the sector added an estimated £42.2 billion to the economy in 2024 alone, with turnover surpassing upwards of £100 billion.1
This impressive hike continues strong sector growth experienced over the past decade, which has resulted in a domestic revenue increase of between 8-9% per annum, alongside a 69.9% overall rise in export (driven in the main by reciprocal international partnerships). As a result, profits have soared, while the defence industry workforce has consequently expanded by more than a third in the past ten years.
Rather than a short-term trend, however, experts suggest that this impressive growth will continue to accelerate. The government has already announced a national increase in defence spending, with a target of investing 2.6% of GDP per annum by 2027 and 3% in the next parliament. As well as boosting the economy, this aims to support widespread sector innovation.
One of the key risks to this growth is the industry’s quietly widening skills gap. The combination of an aging workforce, the dichotomy between rapid technological advances and slow innovation adoption, insufficient training and STEM recruitment challenges is proving a hurdle when it comes to attracting qualified candidates – especially in the volumes needed to maintain such unprecedented sector growth. Unless the sector can tackle the challenge head-on, it’s safe to suggest that future growth ambitions will likely be impacted.
Is defence really facing a skills gap?
Recent insight suggests that the UK defence sector is currently experiencing a shortage of around 10,000 skilled positions across engineering, manufacturing and technology roles alone. While this situation may be considered somewhat ‘on par’ with the all-industry average, the market’s continued growth is expected to create an additional 20,000 job opportunities (across R&D, advanced manufacturing, materials and technology) over the next few years, many of which will require new skills.
Elsewhere, an ageing workforce means that around 28% of those working in manufacturing roles are over 55 and approaching retirement.2 Outside perceptions of the male-dominated nature of the sector3 and a lack of new talent entering the sector may also be limiting the recruitment pool.
Unfortunately, these examples are just the tip of the iceberg. As the industry invests heavily in next-generation technologies, solutions and programmes, we are already seeing escalating demand for relevant specialists. This includes academic experts with knowledge in battery technology, electric and hybrid powertrain engineers, electrical engineers and control engineers.
Simultaneously, there is also a need to enhance the software and data capabilities of the industry to support the uptake of pioneering new technologies. This means software engineers, mechatronic engineers, CAD engineers and – of course – cyber security specialists.
As a result, we are at the start of a tough period of transition for the defence industry. The skills of yesterday are becoming increasingly redundant, and we need a vibrant next generation of talent.
Offering stability and immediacy
For manufacturers and OEMs looking to expand their workforce, support specific projects or manage short-term demand, finding the right talent quickly can make all the difference. In a tight recruitment market, working with a third-party service provider that understands the industry and has broad capabilities can be a significant advantage.
G&P has worked with OEM clients and tiered suppliers across engineering, manufacturing and quality assurance for more than 30 years. This includes programmes across the defence sector. Thanks to recent increased investment, G&P is accelerating its work across the sector, with the overarching aim of helping more businesses to optimise their quality management.
With an intimate understanding of the automotive – and broader – manufacturing industry, G&P Talent brings the knowledge and experience of G&P into an expert recruitment solution. With a bank of talent qualified to the highest industry standards ready to be deployed quickly to plug immediate staff shortages, we offer a range of agile and flexible talent solutions, including the provision of temporary workers, contractors and permanent placements.
Leveraging expertise from other sectors
As the defence sector continues to experience unprecedented growth, leveraging the opportunity relies to some extent on attracting, retaining and fostering talent. While working with recruitment experts like G&P Talent can help to effectively manage the situation in the short-term, addressing the talent gap head-on is essential to ensuring the sector can realise its true future potential.
Without a strong pipeline of talent, the industry will fall behind. Investing in the right skills will drive innovation and a competitive edge, nationally and internationally, but this is easier said than done, with the gap requiring collaboration across industry, government and education.
An important solution that must therefore be considered is the role of horizontal innovation in upskilling the sector. Much like the Strategic Defence Review, which suggested that harnessing innovation from other industries (primarily automotive) would be a key driver of future growth, maybe we need to think similarly laterally from a skills, talent and recruitment perspective.
As the defence industry comes face to face with significant opportunity, maybe employing the same old tactics to shorten the skills gap is the wrong way to look at things. Instead, is it more opportunistic to leverage existing skillsets from other sectors that are already considered high performing and forward thinking.
By bringing in talent and knowledge from industries like automotive, it would certainly be possible to bridge the gap and improve skillsets within the defence industry. It’s one of several options, but offers the potential to accelerate progress fast.