From NSPA contracting to AUKUS Pillar 2 and the UK-EU security pact, the addressable market for UK defence suppliers has expanded materially – and a dedicated session at the DPRTE UK National Defence Procurement and Supply Chain Summit will cut through the acronyms to give a commercially grounded account of what is actually achievable.
The UK National Defence Procurement and Supply Chain Summit returns to Manchester’s Kimpton Clocktower Hotel on Thursday 22 October 2026, and the fourth in our series of session previews turns its attention to the export opportunity – and, more specifically, to the gap between the geopolitical case for UK defence exports and the practical reality of converting that context into contracts.
The session, titled “The Export Opportunity – NATO, European Collaboration and the Indo-Pacific”, makes a direct and unambiguous point from the outset: the addressable market for UK defence suppliers has expanded materially in the past two years. The NATO Defence Production Action Plan, record NSPA contracting volumes, the EU SAFE instrument and ReArm Europe, the UK-EU security pact, and AUKUS Pillar 2 together represent the largest expansion of potential non-UK customers in a generation. For suppliers with products and services that meet NATO-standard requirements, the question is no longer whether the export market exists. It is which opportunity to pursue first, and how.
Why the Export Argument Deserves Serious Attention – and Honest Scrutiny
The geopolitical case for UK defence exports has rarely been stronger. NATO allies are rearming at pace. AUKUS is creating new trilateral supply chains across AI, autonomy, quantum, hypersonics and electronic warfare. European defence investment is scaling in ways not seen since the Cold War. Headlines do not, however, generate purchase orders – and the session is designed for an audience that understands the strategic context and wants to know how to participate commercially, not a geopolitical overview they have already heard.
That distinction matters because the accessibility of export opportunities varies significantly depending on the mechanism, the market and the capability area. NSPA, EDA, SAFE, AUKUS Pillar 2 – each of these creates real opportunity for some UK suppliers and real complexity for others, and the session will address them with the kind of specificity that allows companies in the room to leave with a clear view of which is genuinely the most actionable opportunity for their business right now, and which is further from being a real market than the headlines suggest.
What the Session Will Cover
The panel will open with a current read on where demand for UK defence product is genuinely strongest in 2026 – and where, despite the geopolitical context, it is proving harder to convert interest into contract. Not every allied nation’s procurement appetite is as open as the strategic rhetoric implies, and understanding where the real demand is concentrated is a prerequisite for sensible sequencing.
NSPA will be addressed in detail. The NATO Support and Procurement Agency is now a major contracting authority with significant volumes genuinely open to UK suppliers post-Brexit, but the practical barriers that companies encounter before they reach a competitive bid are real and often poorly understood. The session will cover what proportion of NSPA contracting is accessible, what the common stumbling blocks are, and how to engage with NSPA processes effectively rather than spending time and resource on opportunities that were never realistically within reach.
The EU dimension will receive similarly direct treatment. The SAFE instrument, ReArm Europe and the evolving UK-EU security pact create new possibilities and new ambiguities for UK participation in European defence programmes. The session will address what the pact actually changes in practice today – not in principle or in aspiration – and whether a UK company without an EU footprint can realistically participate in SAFE-funded programmes. For many businesses in the room, that question will determine whether European export is a near-term priority or a longer-term consideration requiring structural preparation first.
AUKUS Pillar 2 will feature as a specific focus. The trilateral programme covers capability areas – AI, autonomy, quantum, hypersonics, electronic warfare – where many UK SMEs and mid-tiers have genuine and competitive positions. The session will address the route into AUKUS Pillar 2 supply chains for companies without existing US or Australian relationships, and whether there is a realistic pathway that does not require years of groundwork or an established US prime as a gateway.
The Sequencing Question
One of the most practically valuable elements of the session will be its examination of a piece of received wisdom that deserves challenge: the assumption that a domestic anchor contract is a prerequisite for credible export engagement. For some capability areas and some markets, that is true. For others, export-led growth is both possible and faster, and the domestic-first assumption can become an obstacle rather than a foundation.
The panel will stress-test that question directly, looking at which markets and capability types allow an export-led approach, what commercial maturity is actually required before credible export engagement becomes viable, and what the first practical step looks like for a UK supplier that has never exported. The session will also address the single most common mistake companies make at the very start of the export journey – a piece of practical intelligence that is worth the registration fee alone.
Join the Conversation in Manchester
The summit runs from 08:30 to 17:00 on Thursday 22 October 2026 at the Kimpton Clocktower Hotel, Manchester. Confirmed speakers across the day include Luke Pollard MP, Minister of State for Defence Readiness and Industry; Admiral Sir Tony Radakin, former Chief of the Defence Staff; Victoria Cope, Commercial Director at Defence Digital; and Tim Ketton-Locke, Director of the Defence Office for Small Business Growth at the MoD.
The Export Opportunity session closes the day on a deliberately forward-looking and commercially optimistic note – bringing together government export support, multilateral contracting authorities and export-active UK suppliers to give a grounded account of what is achievable for UK defence businesses in 2026 and beyond. For suppliers at any stage of their export journey, it is a session designed to replace uncertainty and acronyms with a clear-eyed view of where UK companies can genuinely compete and where the barriers remain structural.
Full details, the event programme and registration are available at dprte.co.uk/defence-summit/
Post written by: Vicky Maggiani
Vicky has worked in media for over 25 years and has a wealth of experience in editing and creating copy for a variety of sectors.
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