This month has seen the release of the UK Government’s strategic defence review (SDR) which is a significant report for Scotland’s engineering industry given the social and economic benefit – and opportunity – that defence sector manufacturing delivers.

The tone of the introduction talks plainly about being ready for a “move to warfighting readiness”, a statement that focuses on the changing reality of the world’s geopolitics. This is evidenced from Russia’s aggression against Ukraine to the USA’s direction to potentially diminish alliances that were previously rock solid.

It led to a relevant conversation with a friend who remembered visiting HM Naval Base Devonport as a 17-year-old Royal Navy reservist and seeing first-hand the battle scars on HMS Avenger following her return from service in the Falklands war. For him, it made very real the reality of the UK’s involvement in that conflict, and it was an example that returned to me when reading the SDR.

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'A fair bit to relish' in industrial strategy

The task force deployed to the Falkland Islands for the conflict comprised a staggering 127 ships, which included 69 Naval and Royal Fleet auxiliary assets. The balance was........

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