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Lockheed Martin has approached the UK government to offer assistance in the construction of a new missile defence system for Britain, amid rising geopolitical tensions and moves by the US to invest in a “Golden Dome” project.
Frank St John, Lockheed’s chief operating officer, said the US defence group believed it could offer critical capabilities to the UK as the government decides on what approach to take. Labour’s recent strategic defence review highlighted the importance of air defence systems but did not include specific plans.
St John’s remarks in an interview with the Financial Times follow on from the Trump administration asking for proposals from defence companies interested in building an ambitious “Golden Dome” for the US. Inspired by Israel’s Iron Dome short-range air defence system, the project aims to establish a space-based missile shield to protect the US against advanced missiles.
St John said Lockheed already had capabilities such as “interceptors, ground-based sensors, space-based situational awareness — that could give the UK [an initial] capability very rapidly”.
The company, he added, would also be happy to partner with “whoever the UK wanted us to work with to create the command and control system that would integrate all of that together as well as make it interoperable with other systems in Europe and with the United States”.
UK defence sources familiar with the situation confirmed that executives from Lockheed had recently briefed Ministry of Defence officials on what the US group might be able to offer in terms of air defence capabilities.
However they played down the prospect of the UK deciding to adopt a similar approach to the US with plans for a Golden Dome, but said developing better integrated air and missile defence systems was a focus area.
The recent review only allocated £1bn towards air defence — far below the estimated cost for the US project.
The MoD said in a statement that the “priority focus” of the allocated funding would be on “increasing our ability to detect air and missile threats at range, enhancing the Integrated Force’s ability to collaboratively defeat these threats and improving integration with our Nato partners who face the same threats”.
Developing better-integrated European air and missile defence systems has become a priority for governments since the start of the war in Ukraine. Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte has recently estimated that about four times more systems are needed than what the alliance has today to counter the threat from Russia.
Lockheed makes the Thaad and Pac-3 missile defence systems, has radar systems and the “Leo” constellation of satellites that can counter threats at different ranges.
Lockheed is among a number of US defence contractors and Silicon Valley companies vying for a role in President Donald Trump’s proposed Golden Dome. St John said the company had submitted “more than one hundred white papers with capabilities and plans” and was also in talks with Silicon Valley start-ups as well as technology groups about partnering.
Separately, St John said Lockheed planned to step up its partnerships with European defence companies to ensure the US group did not get locked out of lucrative export opportunities as the region looks to boost its domestic capabilities.
European industry executives have said the region needs to focus on buying weapons made by domestic players rather than US equipment. There have also been concerns that the US could immobilise aircraft and weapons systems, including Lockheed’s F-35 fighter jet, which is flown by numerous European air forces, although this has been dismissed by the Pentagon.
We are “putting more manufacturing into Europe”, said St John, noting the company’s partnership to build F-35 centre fuselages with Rheinmetall.
Lockheed is building on relationships with Norway’s Kongsberg as well as Rheinmetall. The German defence group earlier this year announced plans to establish large-scale missile production in Europe together with Lockheed. The joint venture aims to manufacture long-range Atacms and Patriot Pac-3 missiles to meet European demand.
Lockheed’s European partnerships, said St John, would “serve us well” as Europe looked to buy more within the region.
He dismissed suggestions that Lockheed would lose sales of its F-35 jet in Europe as a result of tensions between the US and the region. The company had “three or four countries that are actively evaluating F-35s for their fighter requirement”, he said, adding: “We haven’t lost anything in years.”
