After the Summit: Europe's Defence Industrial Base

Can Europe’s fragmented defence industry meet the demands of a shifting geopolitical landscape? In this episode of Facing Coming Storms, Stuart Dee from RAND Europe joins Peter Apps to unpack the NATO summit in The Hague, where pledges to raise defence spending to 3.5%–5% of GDP signal a bold shift. They discuss why large budgets fail to deliver, hindered by a splintered industrial base.

From Germany’s post-2022 rearmament to balancing tanks with tech like quantum computing, they explore innovative approaches like Helsing’s “resilience factories,” alongside challenges like the UK’s nuclear submarine goals and Ukraine’s agile drone industry.

Key moments

1:43 - US Defence Shifts and European Implications

2:31 - The European Defence Industrial Landscape

7:48 - Spending Boosts and National Ambitions

10:34 - Germany's Defence Spending Dilemma

13:49 - The Turning Point: Ukraine's Impact

17:47 - Future Technologies and Defence Strategies

22:52 - Industrial Base Challenges in Defence

34:58 - Innovations in Defence Manufacturing

38:26 - Economic Growth and Defence Spending

44:38 - The 1.5% Defence Spending Question

48:27 - The Complexity of Defence Budgets

Facing Coming Storms is brought to you by the British Army’s Centre for Historical Analysis and Conflict Research, in partnership with the Project for the Study of the 21st Century, and produced by Urban Podcasts.