Conversion of R&D: The UK Case

The United Kingdom displays a range of military capabilities matched only by the United States, Russia and France. The UK government spends roughly £2000 million on defense R&D, which is about 40 per cent of total government funding of R&D. It employs more than 15,000 people in its national defense laboratories, constituting around 40 per cent of the total number of people engaged in R&D for the government.1 The UK’s arms industry produces almost ten per cent of manufacturing gross domestic product, generates huge earnings from exports and employs about 400,000 people.2 As these figures show, the UK’s former imperial role has bequeathed strong armed forces and a big defense-industrial base, both of which have been slow to decline.