Drones win battles. Factories win wars. Britain must industrialise drone production now

By Craig Pyser, Chief Executive, AMufacture

When it comes to the security of our nation, there is a lot we can learn from the French.

That’s why I was delighted that French President Emmanuel Macron was the first international visitor to Downing Street since Andy Burnham became Prime Minister.

The French are leading the way in Europe when it comes to the industrial production of drones – and it’s something the UK must learn from.

In a matter of months, France has begun turning its automotive industry into a defence manufacturing base. Work is already under way repurposing factories, retraining workforces and mobilising supply chains to deliver drone production at a scale western Europe has not seen before.

Major industrial players such as Renault, Valeo, Forvia, Schaeffler and others are now part of a national effort to produce tens of thousands of autonomous systems each year.

The French have learned an important lesson: Designing world‑class drones is only half the challenge. Producing them in their thousands – reliably, affordably and at speed – has now become a strategic necessity.

We squandered the peace dividend. We cannot squander the defence dividend.

For decades, the UK failed to convert the peace dividend into meaningful industrial capability.

The Defence Investment Plan – imperfect though it may be – offers a second chance.

If we build a truly national effort to scale up drone production, we can rebuild our industrial base and secure the defence of our borders. But only if we act at pace.

The UK’s additive manufacturing sector – and the wider industrial ecosystem around it – is ready to deliver. We have the technology and the expertise.

What we need now is the national mobilisation that France has already begun.

Industrialising drones is not just a defence challenge – it is an industrial one

The lesson from Ukraine is crystal clear: Drones win battles, but factories win wars.

Ukraine is targeting production of 10 million drones in 2026 as it battles for its very survival.

The French effort is more modest but not insignificant, with an initial target of at least 60,000 drones per year. These numbers reflect the reality of modern conflict, where attrition is constant and supply chains must be resilient enough to sustain prolonged operations.

The UK cannot meet this moment by relying solely on defence primes or a handful of specialist start‑ups.

What’s required instead is a much broader industrial coalition – automotive, aerospace, electronics, composites, advanced polymers, robotics, logistics and more. We need SMEs and mid‑sized manufacturers fully integrated into defence programmes and automation expertise and production‑line thinking applied to military systems.

France is doing exactly this. The UK must now do the same.

Additive manufacturing is central to this shift

At AMufacture, we have spent the past decade proving that additive manufacturing is not a prototyping tool but a true industrial production technology.

Our fleet of advanced polymer 3D printers – one of the largest in Europe – already produces components for drones and autonomous systems across air, land, sea and underwater domains.

The advantages are clear:

• No tooling – eliminating months of lead time and millions in cost.
• Rapid iteration – new drone designs can be printed in days, not weeks.
• Extreme precision and repeatability – essential for mission‑critical systems.
• Scalable production – thousands of parts produced with factory‑grade reliability.
• Forward deployed manufacturing – printing parts where they are needed, not shipping them from outside the UK.

We’re doing it now. We can do it at speed, and we can do it at scale. The Defence Investment Plan gives us the opportunity to scale it dramatically.

A wider industrial base is essential

The UK has world‑class manufacturers across dozens of sectors who are not yet fully engaged in defence production. That must change.

If France can bring Renault and Thales together to produce 1,000 loitering munitions per month, we can do the same. If Schaeffler and Delair can target 100 drones per day, UK manufacturers can match – and exceed – that output. If Forvia can consider capacity for 1,000 interceptor drones each month, our automotive and advanced engineering sectors can deliver similar volumes.

We have the capacity. What we need is political foresight and the will to mobilise it.

Our automotive plants have unmatched automation expertise. Our aerospace manufacturers deep experience in precision engineering. We have electronics companies capable of producing high‑reliability systems at scale, composite specialists who can deliver lightweight, high‑strength structures and additive manufacturers who can produce complex geometries without tooling.

Throw in a logistics network capable of supporting distributed production and it is clear that these capabilities already exist. They simply need to be aligned to a national mission.

Procurement must be fixed – and urgently

One of the biggest barriers to our ability to industrialise is this country’s woefully outdated defence procurement system.

As I have said before it is too slow and too traditional to deliver the technology we need at the pace we need it.

The current process disadvantages SMEs, favours multinational primes and slows innovation to a crawl. If we want sovereign capability, procurement must open its doors to the full breadth of UK industry.

Here are some things the Government could do today to make procurement fit for purpose:

• Faster pathways for SMEs including an accelerated SME qualification process
• Multi-year volume commitments and contracts so SMEs can plan and invest with confidence
• Co-investment in production capacity and workforce conversion to deliver production at pace
• Simpler onboarding for new suppliers and a procurement culture that values speed, adaptability and resilience.

If we can’t get this right, the defence dividend will be squandered before it begins.

Incentives matter – and they must be meaningful

If we want manufacturers to invest at pace, government must make it easier.

That means supporting our industrial base to pivot to the new defence agenda through incentives such as discounted business rates, intelligent tax reliefs for defence‑related employment and capital investment, innovation grants for autonomous systems and advanced manufacturing and support for workforce development and retraining.

And while we are about it, how about getting rid of some of the endless red tape which currently blights this area.

That could include the abolition of individual export licenses, fast-track permitting for military and industrial facilities and raising financial thresholds so that smaller orders can be delivered without such heavy oversight.

If we are serious about backing British, we must back the entire supply chain.

The moment is now

The UK is NATO’s lead nation for additive manufacturing adoption – a strategic advantage few countries possess. We must leverage it.

We can build sovereign capability. We can accelerate innovation. We can strengthen supply chains. We can deliver the autonomous systems the UK needs.

But only if we industrialise drone production at speed.

France has shown what national mobilisation looks like. Ukraine has shown what scale looks like. The UK must now show what leadership looks like.