Latest news with #defencecompanies
Telegraph
01-08-2025
- Business
- Telegraph
Reeves tells universities: Let defence firms recruit your students
Rachel Reeves has called on universities to do more to ensure defence companies can attend careers fairs without facing intimidation. The Chancellor told The Telegraph there should be 'no barriers' to young people taking jobs in the sector as the world gets more dangerous and uncertain. The intervention was triggered by concerns that Left-wing student unions protesting the presence of defence firms at careers events was discouraging attendance. Ms Reeves told The Telegraph: 'A strong national defence can build a strong economy too. By backing Britain's defence industry, we can create new jobs, opportunities, and investments in our industrial heartlands. 'We can give the next generation the chance to work in high-skilled, well-paid part of the economy. 'But those opportunities can only be seized if we make them available to everyone. That's why it's right that companies should be allowed to attend university career events or recruitment fairs. 'There should be no barriers to young people having the chance to decide on their own futures or crucial part of the British economy being shut out of hiring the best and the brightest.' The Telegraph has been told of incidents when defence companies have cancelled sending employees to jobs fairs due to fears they will be barracked by vocal critics. Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and concerns about the growing influence of China have contributed to Western nations, including the UK, markedly increasing defence spending. The Government has for months been taking steps to counter long-standing negative portrayals of the defence sector, talking up its importance to UK national security. Student protests create hostile environment Business leaders whose firms make military equipment have personally complained to the Chancellor that they were effectively barred from some university careers fairs. There is no ban by the university sector or individual universities on defence companies sending representatives to events where students look for future jobs. However, often a hostile environment is created by student protesters, according to multiple well-placed figures in the defence sector and the Government. It means executives are sometimes taking the decision not to attend certain careers fairs, fearing it would be an unpleasant experience for those employees – often recent graduates themselves – who are sent in. A source at one defence company described how they took that decision after learning of a planned protest where the firm would be accused of being 'dealers of death'. The source said: 'We have had instances where student groups on campuses have taken the fact we are there as a problem. We have seen some pretty unpleasant campaigns with those groups to try to agitate within student unions.' Defence firms have anecdotal evidence that confrontational protests have become more common since Hamas's Oct 7 attack on Israel, after which there has been heightened scrutiny of connections between the British defence industry and Israel. It comes amid pro-Palestine protests on campuses across the country in the wake of Oct 7 and Israel's subsequent military campaign in Gaza. The Ministry of Defence (MoD) is also aware of the issue of defence companies feeling they cannot attend some university careers events and is monitoring it. The concerns have emerged at a time when the UK is set to need even more home-grown engineers and scientists for the defence sector as government spending in that space soars. The Chancellor, who an ally said had been a consistent champion behind the scenes of Britain's defence companies, recently signed off a marked increase in defence spending. The UK's defence spending will rise from around 2.3 per cent of GDP to 2.5 per cent GDP by 2027 – or to 2.6 per cent when money for the intelligence agencies is included for the first time. There is also a looser ambition to hit 3 per cent by the early 2030s, as well as a new Nato target to reach 3.5 per cent on core defence spending by 2035. Labour has already pressed financial institutions to change their definition of environmental, social and governance to make sure that defence companies are not being locked out of potential funding. There was a 9 per cent drop in investment in defence companies from UK funds between the start of 2022 and late 2023, according to London Stock Exchange data. Jonathan Reynolds, the Business Secretary, met senior figures at defence firms and banks last December to press his concerns about barriers to investment in the sector. Meanwhile, Labour has also taken steps to protect free speech on university campuses since entering office last summer, retaining proposed Tory legislation in that space after initially signalling it would be dropped. Ms Reeves said: 'The world is changing and we can see that before our eyes. It is becoming more dangerous, more insecure and more uncertain. 'But the job of the Government is not simply to step back and watch that change happen, but to take action to keep our country safe. 'That is why we have announced the biggest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War and an ambition to spend 3 per cent of GDP on defence in the next parliament.'
The Guardian
22-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Russia using children to design and test its military drones, investigation finds
Russian authorities have systematically involved children in the design and testing of drones for the country's war in Ukraine through nationwide competitions that begin with innocent-seeming video games and end up with the most talented students headhunted by defence companies, an investigation has found. The revelations, part of an investigation by the exiled Russian news outlet the Insider, are the latest to show just how much Russia's leaders are dragging the country's youth into the war effort in Ukraine, with 'patriotic' and militarised education often spilling over into outright participation. 'The kids are actively involved in modelling components of systems for various drones,' one of the teenagers involved told a journalist, who was posing as a correspondent for state-controlled media to persuade interviewees to speak more freely. 'I know of several people at least who were modelling UAV [unmanned aerial vehicle] components for major enterprises,' said the teenager. Vladimir Putin has called for Russia to boost its production of drones, which have increasingly become a key part of the war for Russia and Ukraine. But the drone battle on the frontlines is constantly changing as both sides discover new technologies to enable drones to fly further and evade electronic jamming systems, and Russia is seeking the smartest tech prodigies among its youth to help with the effort. The path starts with a video game called Berloga, launched in 2022, in which 'intelligent bears' have to defend themselves against swarms of bees, sometimes using drones to repel them, the investigation found. Succeeding in the game, which is played by hundreds of thousands of young Russians, can lead to extra credits in exams at the end of high school. The most successful players move into more advanced competitions, such as one called Big Challenges, which looks for promising school pupils to be headhunted by Russian companies, many of which are under international sanctions for their roles in the Russian defence industry. The Insider spoke with three teenage finalists from the competition working on drone technology, who explained how it worked and detailed how they were fully aware of the military application of certain projects but were encouraged to hide it. 'We were forbidden to say that it was needed for the war, and we invented civilian applications. It's a children's program … A project must always have a dual purpose, especially when you're a school student. It's an unwritten rule I've observed at every competition,' said one. While small FPV [first-person view] drones are the deadliest weapon on the frontlines, Russia and Ukraine have also used long-range drones to hit targets far in the rear. Russia sends nightly barrages of kamikaze drones into Ukraine, regularly terrorising the capital, Kyiv, and other big cities. Children are also involved in the production of these larger drones. Over the weekend, a documentary broadcast by the Russian army's television station showed teenagers helping to construct kamikaze drones at a factory described as the world's biggest maker of strike drones. Employing children in military facilities, which could be legitimately targeted in wartime, violates numerous international conventions. Sign up to This is Europe The most pressing stories and debates for Europeans – from identity to economics to the environment after newsletter promotion The footage shown on Sunday showed hundreds of completed Geran-2 kamikaze drones in neat rows. The facility has been put on an EU sanctions list and has come under attack itself from Ukrainian long-range drones. The Geran-2, which has a range of nearly 1,000 miles, is an adapted version of an Iranian kamikaze drone, with production now localised in Russia at a factory in Alabuga in Tatarstan. Moscow claims it only uses these drones to target military and energy infrastructure but there are regular cases of them hitting civilian and residential targets. Russia's state-run Zvezda TV channel said the Alabuga factory had invited 14- and 15-year-old pupils to study drone manufacturing at an adjacent college and subsequently work at the factory. Young workers were shown in the footage with their faces blurred, sitting at computers or assembling drones. Children contacted by the Insider also spoke of working inside military facilities: one explained how, aged 13, he had trained soldiers in drone operations inside a state facility in 2022.
CTV News
10-07-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Could Canada's defence pact with the EU provoke Trump?
A new report suggests the new security pact with the EU could put Canada in the retaliatory crosshairs of U.S. President Trump. Judy Trinh explains how. A new report suggests the new security pact with the EU could put Canada in the retaliatory crosshairs of U.S. President Trump. Judy Trinh explains how. Canada's ambitious strategy to turn to the European Union to wean itself off American dependency for military equipment could be difficult to deliver and result in political fallout, warns former defence and security officials in a new report. After assessing the political and fiscal risks of the Canada-EU Security and Defence Partnership, signed by Prime Minister Mark Carney in Brussels in June, the authors found that 'achieving the partnership's full potential is highly uncertain' because of obstacles on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Those obstacles include trade tensions with the United States, division among the European nations and weak links between the federal and provincial governments. Currently, American defence companies manufacture nearly 75 per cent of the weapons and tools the Canadian military uses, which the report says 'leaves Canada vulnerable to shifting U.S. policies and trade tensions.' The report acknowledges that buying more from Europe could result in a 'more resilient, innovative and self-reliant Canadian economy that can weather global uncertainties,' but warns that political leaders may need to brace for aggressive lobbying from U.S. companies, which could result in retaliation. 'The U.S. is not necessarily going to be happy about losing some of their defence contracts to European competitors. So there may be political fallout in that respect,' said Vincent Rigby, former national security and intelligence advisor to former prime minister Justin Trudeau. Rigby, who is also one of the report's authors, says he's currently watching for the outcome of the Department of National Defence (DND) review of the purchase of F-35 fighter jets from U.S. defence giant Lockheed Martin. While Canada has paid for 16 fighter jets, the remaining order for 72 planes is in limbo, as the DND is considering if Saab's Gripen fighter is a viable alternative. The Swedish company came in second during the initial procurement of the country's next generation of war planes. Rigby says if the remainder of the F-35 contract is cancelled, the U.S. could counter by cancelling contracts with Canadian companies. That is the type of balancing act that Canada will need to calibrate repeatedly over the next decade to fulfill its military obligations. As part of NATO, the Carney government has committed to increasing the amount it spends on defence to five per cent of GDP by 2035 - a bill that could amount to $150 billion a year. Perrin Beatty, former Conservative defence minister and co-author of the report, says Canada needs to spread out where it spends the money to 'ensure we have reliable allies beyond simply one' and build up its domestic military industrial capability. The report notes that under the five per cent GDP benchmark, EU defence spending is likely to exceed $1 trillion by 2035. However, Beatty cautions that the economic benefits Canada stands to reap could be limited by some countries with veto power. 'If you look at our free trade agreement that we have with (the EU), a number of countries within Europe still have not ratified it and the structure within Europe where individual countries have to ratify makes it that much more difficult,' Beatty said. Although U.S. President Donald Trump is waging a trade war across the globe, his administration is also demanding access to Europe. In an editorial published in USA Today on Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio wrote that 'NATO allies must allow American firms to compete for defence contracts' and that only the U.S. has the companies 'fully capable of supplying Europe's defence needs.' Beatty says that's an example of Trump 'playing it both ways,' adding that the U.S. president wants NATO allies to increase their defence budgets in order to boost the bottom lines of American contractors. In the end, the report's authors say Canada needs to strengthen its own resilience by strengthening the military industrial complex at home. 'We can't just substitute one dependency for another,' said Retired Vice-Admiral Mark Norman in an interview on The Vassy Kapelos Show. The push toward more defence spending also requires the massive development of critical minerals, which the report notes could translate into 'tens of thousands of new jobs in regions of Quebec, Ontario and British Columbia.' But the authors found that provincial regulatory barriers could delay the delivery of critical minerals to European supply chains by two to three years. Norman says if the federal government wants to do more business with the Europeans, it also needs to streamline the procurement process, or we may revert back to relying on the United States. 'We need to fix the system in order to flow the money through efficiently,' he said. 'There's no shortage of things we need to buy, but we could end up having to go back to the Americans on some of these things because of the speed we need to purchase them.'
