UK to rebuild hypersonic target capability after decade

The UK is rebuilding its sovereign hypersonic target capability after a gap of more than a decade, with a £20 million contract awarded to Lockheed Martin UK and its small business partners. Defence Minister Luke Pollard announced the contract at the AGF Defence Summit at the Farnborough International Airshow, stating it fills a capability gap and supports around 60 skilled jobs in Bedfordshire, injecting £2 million into the supply chain. Hypersonic targets are used to test air defence radars, interceptors, and crews against the speed and manoeuvre profiles of proliferating threat weapons. The contract is part of a wider innovation push, including a new ring-fenced annual defence innovation budget of £400 million and a target to spend at least 10% of the annual equipment budget on novel technologies. Pollard also confirmed £5 billion is being invested in drones and advanced uncrewed systems, and trailed further announcements on the GCAP programme and the Storm Fighter uncrewed combat aircraft programme.