Why composites are critical to UK Defence resilience
UK defence is entering a period where material choices are becoming as strategically important as platform choices.
Composites now sit at the centre of that shift. Alex Mathers, Portfolio Lead – Defence and Dave Greenhill, Advanced Research Engineer explore why these materials underpin future capability, where the UK is exposed, and what must change to build a more resilient and sovereign system.
Composite materials are critical enablers for UK defence offering clear operational benefits. They make platforms lighter, stronger, and more fuel-efficient - enhancing range, survivability and agility.
This is not a future technology. It’s a present day requirement. The UK’s operational advantage increasingly depends on how well it can deploy, adapt, and support platforms reliant upon composite materials.
But that advantage is fragile.
Next generation defence products rely on advanced fibres and high grade resins or matrices, but the UK has no domestic end-to-end production capability to produce this material, relying entirely on imports. Access to these materials and the intellectual property and production capability behind them is increasingly shaped by global competition and geopolitics.
As the UK’s defence industrial strategies emphasise resilience and sovereign capability, materials supply chains are becoming a strategic issue in their own right. To maintain our edge, we need to treat composites as a strategic asset - not just an engineering solution.
Why composites matter for Defence
Composites already account for around one third of the airframe weight of some combat aircraft. Their use is also widespread across rotor blades, radomes, masts, armour systems, pressure vessels, enclosures and specialist vehicle structures. Their role will only grow as demands on performance, endurance, survivability and supportability increase.
But this shift brings new pressures. These aren’t plug-and-play materials. They require specialist manufacturing, and resilience in future composite intensive platforms will come from assured access to raw materials and new ways of thinking about maintenance, repair and life cycle management.
Without those systems in place, the UK risks building platforms that depend on supply chains it does not control.
The risk to capability
The UK does not currently have a secure, end-to-end ecosystem to support a growing future for composite materials in defence.
Advanced composite supply chains remain highly import-exposed. Key inputs for high-performance materials including specialist resin feedstocks, advanced fibres, silicon-carbide materials and critical minerals are concentrated in overseas supply chains. For Ceramic Matrix Composites, the UK has historically relied heavily on international suppliers for specialist materials and processing capability. That is a strategic vulnerability.
Allies and competitors are already moving. The US treats carbon fibre as a material of national importance. The EU is tightening control of critical raw materials and advanced materials supply chains. Other countries are investing in domestic production and strategic capability.
If the UK wants to remain competitive and sovereign in defence capability, it must act with urgency.
At NCC, our new carbon fibre pilot line is further helping to industrialise and scale UK capability in advanced materials manufacturing, supporting long-term ambition for greater resilience and sovereignty in composite supply chains.
Access to materials is only part of the challenge though. Ownership of the intellectual property, processing know how and the manufacturing skills and capability required to produce them is equally critical.
Our work with IOM3 and connections into the Defence Technical Excellence Colleges and Defence Universities Alliance, nationally as well as in the Greater SW region, is also seeking to improve the defence relevance of skills offerings and the next generation of manufacturing talent.
Building a more resilient system
Alongside this, NCC is also developing capabilities to improve resilience through better lifecycle thinking. By building smarter, more circular material systems, defence can reduce dependency, cut waste and retain value in its supply chains.
Designing for reuse and end-of-life recovery can reduce long term dependency on constrained resources. These approaches also allow environmental resilience to be built into defence systems early, rather than treated like an afterthought.
Sustainability in this context is not just about carbon targets. It’s about operational freedom, cost control and industrial advantage. The primary driver is increasingly the creation of strong and more resilient supply chains.
If we fail to act, we don’t just lose environmental credibility. We lose optionality, independence and speed. Materials decisions made today will shape UK defence capability for the next 20 to 30 years. But with the right systems in place, it’s possible to deliver both resilience and responsibility.
What the UK must do next
Composites give UK defence a technical and operational edge. Keeping that edge means making better material choices and supporting them with joined up action across design, procurement, manufacturing and materials reuse at end-of-product-life.
This is a national capability issue and is what we’re here to deliver at NCC.
Composites are part of the UK’s defence edge, and we cannot afford to leave them as someone else’s supply chain problem. Now we need to protect that advantage by improving access to key materials, building sovereign capability, designing for repair and recovery, and keeping control of the technologies that future platforms will depend on.
If you’re working on platforms, materials, sustainability or supply chain resilience, it’s time to connect the dots. Collaborate with us to help build a stronger, more sovereign and resilient UK supply chain while we still have the choice.