Extra armed forces funding gives 'certainty' for West businesses
Stephen Bennington is the CEO of Bristol robotics company Q5D and said the announcement of future funding for autonomous technology is a "confidence boost" and provides certainty for companies investing in the industry.He said: "Ukraine really changed everything in warfare and I think the rest of the world is learning from it. "It means we can invest. It kicks things off and so we have that level of confidence, that they are putting that level of money into autonomous vehicles."We work on the wiring part of the manufacturing process and it's the slowest part. This is what we can use our expertise on."Ian McFarlane is a sales director for Thales underwater systems. The company employs 1,000 people at Templecombe in Somerset, 100 in Bristol, and also has a site in Swindon. The organisation develops sonar technology for submarines.He said: "This announcement means there's going to be continual work and increasing work, which is good."It does mean that people that work here are able to say with certainty that their jobs are secure for the next five plus years."The certainty of the monetary funding lines, the certainty of direction of the Navy allows us to take some strategic decisions to work out where our business is going and how we are positioned to support our armed forces and make sure we provide that war-winning kit to the frontline."In one of his final acts as prime minister, Sir Keir said some road and energy projects would not "go ahead as planned" to help raise defence funding to £80bn a year by 2029.
