Page 76 - 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

3. “From 2016 to 2023, nearly 200 UK firms were delisted from the London Stock Exchange via private
acquisitions, and only two have since returned to public listing.”
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(“UK corporations keep things private”; McKinsey & Company, 2 August, 2024)
4. House of Commons Select Committee on Defence
Oral evidence
Different perspectives reflecting different national affiliations? (author’s question)
Mike Turner CBE, Chief Executive, BAE Systems plc, a London Stock Exchange-listed company with a
“Golden Share” owned by the British Government
“I think competition has been a disaster for the UK defence industrial base … I think that the competition
policy of MoD allowed overseas companies to see an opportunity in this market to wipe out the prime
systems capability of the UK indigenous defence base. BAE Systems, British Aerospace, did not need a
competition policy to say it needed to be competitive globally… I believe we are the number one
manufacturing exporter from the UK. We only export because we are competitive in world terms.” 28
February, 2006

John Howe, former Deputy Chief Executive of the UK Defence Procurement Agency and then UK
Chairman, Thales UK, majority-owned by the French State (26.6%) and Dassault Aviation (26.59%), with
29.76% listed on Euronext Paris
“Britain has pursued a more open market policy in its procurement and, although there is a lot of emphasis
in this report on partnership, there is still emphasis on competition, and I think that has been healthy for
Britain. On the other hand, probably the French have given a higher priority to forward thinking, on research
and technology and long-term investment in those fields. So there are offsetting features of that kind. I would
certainly not encourage the Government in the UK to be more, as it were, dirigiste in the way it structures
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industry. I think that would be a mistake.” 7 February, 2006
Lord Levene of Portsoken, former UK Chief of Defence Procurement, then UK Chairman, General
Dynamics Corporation, a US company listed on the New York Stock Exchange
“As a businessman, which is what I spent most of my time doing before I was in the Ministry of Defence, I do
not regard competition as confrontation. I regard competition as essentially a huge amount of what business
is about. You have buyers and you have sellers. If any of us goes to buy a house or a car, you do not walk in
and say, “How much is it? Fine. Let me take out my cheque book and write you a cheque.”
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31 January, 2006
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Both Mike Turner and Lord Levene submitted evidence to support their oral statements. The former pointed
to the sale of over 800 Hawk aircraft to 18 countries worldwide as an example of BAE’s competitiveness in
worldwide markets without the need for the MoD’s competition policy.
Subsequent evidence reviewed by the Committee, together with subsequent Commons and Lords reviews,
challenged Lord Levene’s assertions that his Reforms had improved delivery and value for money.
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07/07/2025 Richard Hooke 2025