Weekly Defence Rundown 7th-13th July 2025

by CMS Team on 15 July, 2025

Last week was an important moment for Sir Keir Starmer and his foreign policy and diplomacy efforts, with French President Macron coming to the UK for a state visit. On 10^th July, the UK and France announced the Northwood Declaration, confirming that the two countries will “coordinate across nuclear policy, capabilities, and operations”, and that their respective armed forces will establish a combined joint force on a “sufficient scale for warfighting”.

The Defence Committee also met for their final session before summer recess, questioning Minister for the Armed Forces Luke Pollard as part of their inquiry into the UK’s Contribution to European Security. Thes session covered the Strategic Defence Review, the UK’s commitment to NATO, homeland resilience, supply chain security, and broader defence reform.

Defence Brief: Key Insights from the Week

Labour ‘may refuse to use Israeli parts’ in UK dome defence system in bid to appease pro-Palestinian backbench MPs (Daily Mail)
Government urged to help private sector fund defence industry (Financial Times)
Europe just years away from uncrewed fighter jets, says defence start-up Helsing (Financial Times)
Iran security risk to the UK now equal to that of Russia (The Times)
Reeves to stop green groups from blocking defence investment (The Telegraph)

Industry Latest:

4GD completes British Garrison Urban Skills Facilities (Calibre Defence)
UK opens GCAP headquarters (Janes)
France, UK to relaunch SCALP/Storm Shadow production (Janes)
US, Australia and Japan sign trilateral naval logistics agreement (Breaking Defense)

Direct from Government:

New Storm Shadow and missile cooperation to boost jobs as UK and France reboot defence relationship (MoD Press Release)
Government and business put forward “Team UK” approach to unleash defence sector’s potential (MoD Press Release)
Global Combat Air Programme Joint Statement: 7 July 2025 (MoD Press Release)
UK-France Leaders Declaration (Prime Minister’s Office)

News from Further Afar:

Following claims by Russia that its military forces have gained control of two more villages in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions, it was reported that halted shipments of American military aid could resume (Politico)
It was later reported by The Times that President Trump had been “blindsided” by the decision to halt weapons for Ukraine by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth. Subsequently, there were rumours that Trump was considering a new aid package (Politico)
In a speech to military officials ahead of Bastille Day, French President Macron pledged to boost France’s defence budget by €6.5bn over next 2 years, representing a 6% increase over the total €110bn that had been planned for 2026/2027 (Financial Times)
Eleven years after it was shot down, judges at the European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia was responsible for the downing of MH17 on 17^th July 2014. Europe’s top human rights court also ruled that Russia was responsible for widespread violations of international law in backing anti-Kyiv separatists in eastern Ukraine from 2014 and in invading Ukraine in 2022 (The Guardian)

CMS Podcast of the Week:

This Means War | Training is credibility

Coming Up This Week:

The headline news for the coming week is the signing of a mutual assistance defence pact between the UK and Germany on Thursday 17^th July. This pact, alongside the UK-French summit held last week, has led several commentators to note of an emerging London-Paris-Berlin triangle.

This is also the final full week in Parliament before the House rises for summer recess on 22^nd July, with MPs to return on 1^st September.

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