I recently joined the Council on Geostrategy and ADS on the Defence Talks podcast to discuss the UK’s future skills needs. Our discussion left me reflecting on a simple but critical point: the development of defence skills and training must now move at the speed of technology.
Resetting our approach to skills matters because geopolitical uncertainty and technology has radically changed defence requirements and capabilities. As robotics and Artificial Intelligence revolutionise the battlefield, alongside persistent cyber threats, new technologies are shaping how we at BAE Systems deliver defence and security capabilities in the air, land, sea and space domains. Fundamentally, our ability to innovate at pace and deliver for our armed forces and security services is reliant upon the skills of our people.
The Strategic Defence Review was clear: defence must operate with continuous innovation to meet whatever future threats our country might face.
With Government and partners in industry, we’re accelerating the evolution of our skills infrastructure. Working together, we're building sovereign capability, creating new career entry routes and sustaining the critical skills we need to build resilience in the defence industrial sector. This means collaborating on projects like the Defence Skills Passport to encourage smoother transitions within the sector by identifying shared needs and facilitating multiple entry points for suitable candidates. We’re also joining forces on recruitment and awareness campaigns that challenge long-held perceptions about careers in defence.
Within BAE Systems we’ve been growing our talent pipeline fast with 6,800 people currently training on our early careers programmes, including 5,100 apprentices. Since 2024, we’ve recruited over 10,000 new employees.
Of course, our approach to building skills in the Company equates to more than increasing the numbers in our workforce. Through our skills modernisation programme we’re now driving an even greater focus on learning, so it’s an important part of our culture. Initiatives to retrain and upskill our employees are in place alongside an emphasis on training that demonstrates the importance of teams, collaboration, inclusion and leadership. We’ve mapped the skills competencies we need and are providing employees with clear career routes.
Our approach has required reconsideration about the best places to find talent. In my experience, employing teams of people who have followed different career pathways is a real advantage.
Mary Haigh
Our three dedicated UK Skills Academies in Barrow, Samlesbury and Glasgow are equipping our people with the skills to build the next generation of submarine, shipbuilding and combat air capabilities. Our Digital Academy—used by more than 8,000 learners in 2025 – is accelerating capability in cyber, AI, data and digital engineering.
Built within our skills approach too is the flexibility to respond to evolving technology requirements as well as, importantly, how our people want to learn - both now and in the future. Delivering hybrid training, online, face-to-face and hands-on learning means that we can rapidly pivot and adjust. Our virtual learning campus helps to provide this training environment.
Finally, our approach has required reconsideration about the best places to find talent. Exceptional STEM skills remain vital. In today’s security context, especially in cyber, we also need people who can analyse vast amounts of data, balance risk, make rapid decisions, spot patterns, challenge assumptions and consider problems from more than one angle. In my experience, employing teams of people who have followed different career pathways is a real advantage. One of my team was an operations manager sourcing PPE for carers through the COVID pandemic. Another trained as a ballet dancer. On paper, those profiles may not look obvious for roles in defence and security, but in practice they bring resilience, discipline and the ability to learn fast. Let’s continue to widen the doorway for people who might never have considered a role in defence and encourage them to pivot.
As we look to the future, the defence sector must continue to modernise skills and training at the pace of technological change.
By embracing innovation, continuous learning and diverse talent together we’re building the skilled, resilient and effective workforce the UK’s defence and security sector needs.