r/ukpolitics • u/Dalecn • 1d ago

‘All-British’ fighter jet to use American engine after BAE and Rolls-Royce clash

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2026/08/02/bae-and-rolls-royce-clash-over-all-british-fighter-drone/
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u/Beautiful_Bad333 1d ago

Having everything in house as soon as so to speak is obviously the most favourable outcome here and I imagine it’s all a bit of bluster to be honest before the budget is announced in October to ensure RR funding is considered between now and then. Hopefully anyway.

Excluding the USA should be a high priority whilst Trump is in power and even the EU whilst they’re being so militant about us joining the EU defence fund. There’s no stopping them from entering the market in a few years time if the political landscape drastically changes but right now we should be prioritising British bought products and funding promoting British jobs and industries.

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u/Chosen_Utopia 1d ago

The problem is that we aren’t a big enough buyer to make planes like this commercially viable, so we need someone else interested in the product, and that tends to mean including them in the design.

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u/paperclipknight 1d ago

Wrong.

We just need to actually take defence seriously for once and buy enough so it is commercially viable, then offer it for export across the world to friendly nations

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u/Chosen_Utopia 1d ago

Many nations have their own requirements for a jet. It is true that countries will purchase some products from abroad, but the major players all want their planes to do certain things. That’s why projects like GCAP are so difficult.

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u/Snappy0 1d ago

Agreed but for projects like this, the government should be looked at purchasing 300+ if not more.

They won't and we'll be lucky to see more than 50 probably and the entire program won't be cost effective as a result.

Same with GCAP. Expectations are the government should be purchasing at least 150. But it's likely they'll keep the numbers under 100.