Expleo, the global engineering, technology and consulting services provider, welcomes the UK Government’s Defence Investment Plan and says its focus on software-defined, digitally enabled and autonomous systems underlines the growing role of digital engineering in successful programme delivery.
Published on 30 June 2026 by the Ministry of Defence and HM Treasury, the plan sets out £298 billion of investment across the next four years, including an additional £15 billion between 2026-27 and 2029-30. The Government has confirmed that core NATO defence spending will reach 2.7% of GDP from 2027-28, with the wider investment expected to support nearly 60,000 additional direct and indirect jobs across the UK by the end of the decade.
The plan makes major commitments across aerospace and maritime programmes, including £8.6 billion for the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP), £300 million for Collaborative Combat Aircraft, and more than £5 billion for drones and uncrewed systems. It also includes funding to begin work on the Hybrid Navy, which combines crewed and uncrewed platforms with advanced integration and autonomy.
Jonathan Taylor, incoming UK Managing Director at Expleo, said: “This is a welcome and much-needed blueprint from Government, with real commitment behind it. Across aerospace and maritime, the plan sets out a clear strategic direction that hinges on software-defined, connected and autonomous systems. The task now is delivery, and that will be the hard part – the defence sector will need to work together to deliver these programmes safely, securely and at pace.”
As defence programmes become more software-defined, connected and autonomous, digital engineering provides the structure needed to manage complexity from early design through to in-service support. Verification, validation, software assurance and systems integration then help ensure systems can be deployed, updated and sustained safely.
Taylor added: “The engineering work behind these programmes is changing. More software, more autonomy and more integration between systems means more work upfront on requirements, interfaces, testing and assurance. That is why digital engineering is so important to programmes like the Hybrid Navy. Once these systems are in service, there can be no grey areas on safety or security.”
Delivering the Defence Investment Plan will require strong sovereign engineering capability across the UK’s defence industrial base. Prime contractors, specialist engineering partners and supply chains will need to work closely from the earliest stages of programmes, particularly where software, autonomy and complex interfaces are central to delivery.
The plan’s focus on strengthening the defence investment ecosystem and mobilising public and private capital points to the need for established systems engineering, simulation, verification and validation, software assurance and integration expertise, particularly as funded programmes move from design intent into safe, secure and deployable capability.
Taylor concluded: “Successful delivery will come down to the engineering on these programmes. Digital engineering has to work with robust systems engineering, integration and assurance from the start. That is how the UK defence sector will succeed in turning funded programmes into deployable operational capability the armed forces can trust in service.”
