Weekly Defence Rundown 14th – 20th July 2025

by CMS Team on 22 July, 2025

Over the past week, headlines have been consumed by the news that a massive data breach by the MoD has resulted in almost 7,000 Afghan nationals being relocated to the UK. In February 2022, around 20,000 individuals, including Afghans who had worked for British and foreign forces, UK special forces, MI6 agents, and military officers, had their personal information exposed. The leak was only revealed when a super-injunction – the first to be deployed by the government – was lifted after a two-year legal battle headed by The Times.

In other news, the UK and Germany signed a new treaty, covering a range of issues from small boats to transport from London to Berlin. In particular however, Starmer and Merz pledged to work more closely to sell jointly-made weapons – including Typhoon jets, Airbus A400M aircraft, and Boxer armoured vehicles – as well as a mutual defence clause, promising to come to the other’s aid in the event of an armed attack. Additionally, the treaty commits the UK and Germany to deeper cooperation with France, formalising the so-called London-Paris-Berlin triangle alliance.

Defence Brief: Key Insights from the Week

Revealed: Leak that risked lives of 100,000 Afghans — and £7bn cover-up (The Times)
UK and Germany join forces in push for lucrative sales of military jets and hardware (Financial Times)
British drone fires precision missile in world first (The Telegraph)
Veterans minister may quit if Troubles-era troops lose immunity (The Times)

Industry Latest:

Cubic wins UK ILT-A award (Army Technology)
RAF chief proposes European exercise zone in Baltic (UK Defence Journal)
Britain unveils design for new fighter jet demonstrator (UK Defence Journal)
UK-led INVICTUS targets 2031 flight for Mach 5 spaceplane (UK Defence Journal)
British Army’s Asgard C2 and targeting network revealed (Janes)
Project Vanaheim: How the US and UK are trying to keep up with the UAS threat (Breaking Defense)
Anthropic, Google and xAI win $200M each from Pentagon AI chief for ‘agentic AI’ (Breaking Defense)

Direct from Government:

Fundamental lethality shift for British Army spearheaded by novel targeting tech ‘ASGARD’ (MoD Press Release)
Chief of the Air Staff speech at Global Air & Space Chiefs’ Conference 2025 (MoD Press Release)
Defence Secretary statement on war in Ukraine – 17 July 2025 (MoD Press Release)
Scottish defence dividend £250m investment launched (MoD Press Release)
Air Marshal Harv Smyth appointed new Chief of the Air Staff (MoD Press Release)

News from Further Afar:

President Trump has announced a major reversal in White House Policy, with Ukraine set to receive “massive” supplies of American weapons, including Patriot air defence systems. Additionally, Trump revealed that the Kremlin’s trade partners will face “very severe” tariffs (The Times)
Elsewhere in the Ukraine conflict, the country’s arms investment and procurement group, Brave1, has unveiled a “Test in Ukraine” scheme, which will allow foreign arms companies to test their latest weapons on the front line (Reuters)
Speaking on Bastille Day, President Macron allocated an extra €6.5 billion in defence spending over the next two years. This means France will double its defence budget from 2017 levels by 2027 – 3 years ahead of Macron’s 2030 target (The Telegraph)
Despite an immediate ceasefire being announced by Syria’s interim president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, sectarian clashes continued in the southern city of Suweida between Druze and Bedouin tribes (BBC)
In a blow to European Commission Chief Ursula von der Leyen, the German government stated that it will not accept the Commission’s proposal – a central EU budget of €1.816 trillion for the seven-year period from 2028 (Politico)
Exercise Talisman Sabre, the largest-ever warfighting exercise to take place in Australia, with more than 35,000 personnel across 19 countries, officially kicked off (Sky News)

CMS Podcast of the Week:

Council on Geostrategy – Defence Talks: Securing UK Advantage | Financing and investment: Strengthening UK defence and security

Coming Up This Week:

As the House rises for summer recess on Tuesday, Sir Keir Starmer will chair his final Cabinet meeting on Tuesday. Additionally, it is also expected that Conservative leader Kemi Badenoch will reshuffle her shadow cabinet, with James Cleverly expected to reappear on the front bench.

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