RIAT 2026 Cancelled

The Royal International Air Tattoo (RIAT) has been cancelled for 2026. Organisers confirmed on 22 May that the event — due to run from 17–19 July at RAF Fairford — cannot go ahead while the base remains occupied by US Air Force B-1B and B-52H bombers deployed under Operation Epic Fury, the US-led air campaign against Iran. RIAT will return in 2027.

Business Winning Angle: One of the most productive annual forums for meeting primes, engaging international buyers and showcasing capability has gone for this year. The Farnborough International Airshow (20–24 July) now becomes the only major UK defence aviation showcase of the summer — demand for space, hospitality and delegation access will be significantly higher than usual. Companies with Farnborough plans should strengthen them now; those without should consider urgently what replaces RIAT in their second-half pipeline.

DIP Delay Is Freezing Supplier Investment — The case of Chess Dynamics — a West Sussex counter-drone company within the Cohort group — was raised in the House of Commons by Horsham MP John Milne, who warned that without clarity on the delayed Defence Investment Plan (DIP), suppliers have been unable to commission new systems for close to a year. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury defended the government's investment record but committed to neither a timeline nor a meeting.

Reports suggest a June 2026 DIP publication is now being targeted, accompanied by an £18 billion, four-year funding uplift.

Date note: The parliamentary exchange was on 28 April, outside the window. Reporting on its ongoing significance published 19 May.

Business Winning Angle: Until the DIP lands, primes are withholding supply chain commitments and Tier 2 and 3 pipelines remain thinner than they should be. Use this period to deepen relationships at programme level — when the DIP publishes, decisions will move fast.

Borealis System Goes Live Six Months Early — The MoD announced this week that Borealis — the UK's satellite threat-tracking software — has reached full operational status six months ahead of schedule. Delivered by CGI UK under a £65 million five-year contract, the system fuses sensor data to give the National Space Operations Centre a faster, more accurate picture of debris and adversary satellite activity. The announcement coincided with the release of first imagery from Noctis-1, the UK's new military space telescope, which now feeds directly into Borealis.

Business Winning Angle: Early delivery of a complex sovereign capability is a strong commercial signal for CGI UK and creates credible follow-on opportunity as the system scales and Noctis-2 moves into development. Companies with capability in space domain awareness, data fusion or edge computing should be tracking this programme — and the CGI-led supply chain is a realistic entry route for smaller firms.

MoD Awards Contracts to Thirteen SMEs in "Defence Unicorn" Push — Thirteen British technology companies have been awarded contracts of up to £4 million each through Commercial X, the MoD's accelerated contracting vehicle, as part of the government's drive to identify the UK's next billion-pound defence business. Announced on 19 May, the contracts span quantum sensing, autonomous systems, secure communications, space manufacturing and synthetic training. All companies were founded after 2011; more than half have done no previous business with the MoD.

Business Winning Angle: This is the MoD's clearest signal yet that it is actively opening accelerated routes for innovative SMEs — bypassing the traditional procurement cycle. Companies that have been deterred by the length and complexity of conventional defence tendering should be monitoring Commercial X closely. The MoD has also committed to increasing SME spend by 50% to £7.5 billion by May 2028, meaning this programme is set to grow. If your company has genuinely novel capability, the case for engaging now is strong.

Primes Commit to Opening Supply Chains — The inaugural DPRTE Scottish Defence Procurement and Supply Chain Summit took place on 20 May. With a packed room of prime contractors, SMEs, MoD officials and skills providers, the event brought the defence procurement community together at a moment of significant new investment in Scotland. From the stage, prime contractors including Leonardo and Thales set out specifically how they intend to open their supply chains to Scottish SMEs — going beyond the usual conference language to make named, public commitments.

Business Winning Angle: Primes making specific, named, public commitments to supply chain access is meaningfully different from a ministerial announcement. Scottish-based companies now have named organisations to follow up with directly. For companies elsewhere in the UK, Scottish prime partnerships are becoming an increasingly visible route into growing programmes. The follow-up action is straightforward: identify which primes spoke, and make contact.

BAE Bofors Completes Acquisition of Swedish Precision Machining Firm — BAE Systems Bofors has completed its acquisition of Aston Harald Mekaniska Verkstad AB, a Swedish precision mechanics and component machining specialist. The purchase agreement was signed in February; completion was confirmed this week. The deal strengthens BAE Bofors' manufacturing capacity as demand for European land weapons production continues to rise.

Business Winning Angle: Primes are increasingly buying manufacturing capability in rather than sub-contracting it out — a structural shift driven by the need for supply chain resilience and scaled-up production. For UK companies with precision machining or advanced manufacturing capability, this creates both pressure where work is internalised and opportunity where trusted partners are sought. The direction of travel is clear: sovereign manufacturing depth is now a competitive differentiator.

MoD MRPS RFI Published — and Timeline Has Slipped — DE&S published a new Request for Information (RFI) on 18 May for the Medium Range Precision Strike (MRPS) programme, with responses due by 5 June. The RFI puts the estimated contract start at June 2028 — a slip from the 2027 award target previously cited — and sets minimum requirements of 60km range, 40-minute loiter, real-time video and GPS-denied operation.

Business Winning Angle: Preliminary market engagement is the highest-value point in the cycle for suppliers to shape a requirement. Companies with loitering munition, precision strike, uncrewed systems, sensor or datalink capability should respond by 5 June if they have not already done so.

Cooper: Russia Growing More Reckless — Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper told the NATO foreign ministers' meeting in Helsingborg on 22 May that Russia is becoming more reckless and dangerous as its military capability deteriorates in Ukraine — the alliance's consensus being that a weakened Russia represents a heightened, not diminished, threat to European stability.

Business Winning Angle: Sustained NATO threat framing of this kind directly reinforces MoD's internal justifications for spending in air defence, electronic warfare, ISR and maritime patrol — all areas where UK companies should expect programme budgets to hold or grow even as the DIP slips. The same messaging is driving analogous procurement decisions across allied nations, widening the export conversation.