On target: defence career guide for graduate engineers

The UK defence sector sits at the cutting edge of technology and needs high-calibre engineers from a myriad of disciplines to help uphold operations in-theatre (that’s military speak for on the battlefield) manufacture and maintain new and existing platforms, and design the weapons for tomorrow’s battlespace.

Depite well-publicised recession-era cut-backs the UK has the biggest defence budget in Europe and plans to spend £164bn on equipment and equipment support over the next ten years. Furthermore, the nation still spends over two per cent of its income on defence and defence exports are a vital component of the British economy.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies notes that Britain’s 2013 defence expenditure ranks it fifth in the world behind the USA, Russia, China, and Saudi Arabia. The industry as a whole has an annual turnover of £22bn and defence export sales stood at £9.8bn in 2013, an 11.4 per cent increase on 2012.

Over 160,000 people are employed in the defence industry, and 10 per cent of UK manufacturers serve it too. 
The CBI (Confederation of British Industry) notes that there are more small to medium-sized companies (SMEs) operating in the UK’s defence manufacturing sector than France, Italy, Germany, and Spain combined, and Britain is currently the world’s second largest defence exporter.