Page 4 - Five Forces of Americanisation Richard Hooke 04072025 final post SDR1

The UK Defence Industry in the 21 Century
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The Five Forces of Americanisation

Background and Purpose

Nearly 20 years ago, as head of PwC’s global Aerospace &
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Defence practice, I published a paper exploring the issues likely
to shape the future of the defence industry and the
implications for contractors. Unsurprisingly, America’s
continuing dominance, its commitment to “full spectrum”
superiority, was central, as was its willingness to spend far
more on defence than anyone else. In 2005, it spent as much
on defence as the rest of the world put together.

We discussed our findings with clients and presented them at
events across the world: from Europe, the USA and Canada to
much of the Global South, from Sao Paulo and Pretoria to Seoul
and Singapore.
A series of lectures on the UK Defence Academy/Cranfield
University MDA programme followed: exploring how the
principles of business and finance (notably the behaviour of
capital markets) influenced and, at times, supplanted defence
and security policy.
When envisioning the future environment for defence contractors, it was clear that its shape would
be defined by America. Even without the seismic impact of financial crisis, war, disease, food insecurity
and climate change, the world’s defence industry seemed likely to be dominated by a process of
“Americanisation”. Less obvious then was the impetus now provided by the fascination of dealmaking,
given credibility by financial markets and replacing the search for common ground and mutual aid in
international diplomacy.
Looking into the Future in 2005

Two extreme scenarios
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“The Defence Industry in the 21 Century: Thinking Global or Thinking American”

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07/07/2025 Richard Hooke 2025