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Speaker 1: Well, I think we're at an interesting point, and you know,

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Speaker 1: we're in a year where Statrtic Defense Review is going

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Speaker 1: to be coming out soon, we hope there'll be a

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Speaker 1: defense Industrial strategy and the appointment of a National Armaments Director.

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Speaker 1: So there are lots of important things happening where we'll

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Speaker 1: get some clarity on how the UK and the government

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Speaker 1: feel about defense and about its defense industry. And certainly

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Speaker 1: a lot of the rhetoric if you like, around that

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Speaker 1: is reflecting not only the importance of defense in the

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Speaker 1: need to invest in defense and spend more on defense,

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Speaker 1: but to do that in the UK. So I think

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Speaker 1: this is the year where we and the UK defense

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Speaker 1: industry will hope to see those words turning into action.

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Speaker 2: So you think it's a pivotal year. Then are you

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Speaker 2: doing anything to ramp up in the UK now or

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Speaker 2: are you awaiting all of those reviews and the contracts

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Speaker 2: to arrive.

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Speaker 1: So we have a sizable presence as Airbus, Defense and

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Speaker 1: Space UK here already. We have about three and a

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Speaker 1: half people, most of those are across two sites Stevenage

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Speaker 1: and Portsmouth designing and building satellites and we're well set

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Speaker 1: now for what we need to do. The question, I

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Speaker 1: guess will be what further opportunities or requirements will come

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Speaker 1: from the government, and will be ready to ramp up,

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Speaker 1: as you say, and ready to increase and invest ourselves

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Speaker 1: if that were to happen.

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Speaker 2: Do you think that the UK can keep up with

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Speaker 2: European defense spending commitments?

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Speaker 1: Well, John Heedy has said recently that he wants to

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Speaker 1: be part of that increased spend and those various economic

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Speaker 1: mechanisms that the European Union is putting into place. I

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Speaker 1: guess we'll hear more of that at the forthcoming UK

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Speaker 1: EU summit. But no, the UK is very well placed

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Speaker 1: to be, as it always has been a central part

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Speaker 1: of European security and defense.

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Speaker 2: That's more of a testament to how little others are spending,

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Speaker 2: though in some sense, is that the UK is so

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Speaker 2: high in the NATO pack of spending.

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Speaker 1: Well, I think all countries at the moment are looking

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Speaker 1: at how much they need to spend, and most countries

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Speaker 1: are talking about increasing their spend.

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Speaker 2: When do you think that we'll see new money flow

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Speaker 2: from the UK government and specifically for you at a PUS,

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Speaker 2: When do you think that money will start flowing?

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Speaker 1: Well, they're talking about increasing to spend of GDP to

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Speaker 1: two and a half percent by twenty twenty seven. We

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Speaker 1: know that Trump has asked NATO members to go between

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Speaker 1: three and a half and five percent, is what we're hearing,

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Speaker 1: So we'll see how the UK responds to that, and

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Speaker 1: I guess as part of the UK EU Summit and

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Speaker 1: then the NATO Summit in June, we might hear some

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Speaker 1: more detail from the UK and other countries.

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Speaker 2: So it sounds like you're poised. There's not much.

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Speaker 1: Detail, We're poised, and the detail and the direction it

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Speaker 1: seems encouraging and we look forward to hearing from the

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Speaker 1: Defense Review more.

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Speaker 2: Detail in terms of the capabilities. Obviously, you know the

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Speaker 2: rhetoric as you mentioned, and the idea of rebuilding and

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Speaker 2: building up defense spending is there, but then the capacity

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Speaker 2: and the capabilities then do take time. What we are

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Speaker 2: seeing though from Blue Big Data is that backlogs we

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Speaker 2: know for the big defense companies yours included in the US,

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Speaker 2: in the UK and in Europe are increasing. Are your

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Speaker 2: backlogs rising here in the UK as there is more

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Speaker 2: pressure now to build and deliver.

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Speaker 1: Not particularly we're as I say, we're well poised to

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Speaker 1: deliver what we're already working on both on the defense

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Speaker 1: and indeed the commercial side, and we're ready and set

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Speaker 1: to invest more if that's required with future orders or

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Speaker 1: commitments from the UK. I mean, what we have in

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Speaker 1: the UK at the moment is a fantastic capability in space.

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Speaker 1: You know, for fifty years, Airbus Defense and Space has

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Speaker 1: been here, designing, building, even operating satellites. For twenty years

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Speaker 1: we operated the UK Skynet satellite communication system and that's

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Speaker 1: something that really we believe should be nurtured. And if

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Speaker 1: the UK at this time doubles down and invests itself

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Speaker 1: in that capability with it bringing requirements to UK factories

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Speaker 1: and UK companies, not just ours. We have a supply

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Speaker 1: chain of something like two thousand companies, half of which

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Speaker 1: are SMEs. We've launched many initiatives to encourage smaller companies

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Speaker 1: to get involved in space and so on, and we

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Speaker 1: really see ourselves at Airbus Defense and Space UK as

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Speaker 1: a convener for success in the UK.

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Speaker 2: What does a war ready Breton look like from your perspective?

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Speaker 2: The Prime Minister Kissed Arma has vowed to return Britain

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Speaker 2: to war fighting readiness.

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Speaker 1: So space is at the center of today's war fighting capabilities.

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Speaker 1: Some people refer to it as the ultimate high ground.

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Speaker 1: It's the place that you operate from, where you see

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Speaker 1: more and where of course you can communicate most effectively from.

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Speaker 1: So certainly part of any investment in becoming already would

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Speaker 1: need to be to invest in that space capability and

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Speaker 1: to make sure that we maintain our own independent operations,

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Speaker 1: our own independent ability to design, build and operate satellites,

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Speaker 1: to take our own view of the threats that are

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Speaker 1: out there. And you do that by maintaining a capability yourself,

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Speaker 1: not buying off the shelf from other countries,