Defence giant sees global sales surge

BAE Systems has seen a surge in sales amid ‘sustained increases’ in defence budgets around the globe.

The defence giant, which employs thousands of workers in Lancashire, recorded sales of £15.8bn for the six months ending June 30, 2026 – up nine per cent year-on-year.

Operating profit also rose 13 per cent to £1.5bn, while the first half of the year saw the group secure orders worth £16.4bn – up £3.2bn on the same period last year.

The business has now lifted its outlook for the year to the end of December 2026. It now expects sales to grow between eight per cent and ten per cent, up from its previous guidance of seven to nine per cent growth.

Chief executive Charles Woodburn said: “Across the business, our outstanding teams have delivered another strong period of operational and financial performance, which gives us the confidence to upgrade our full-year guidance

“Alongside our focus on meeting our customers' needs today, we continue to invest in our business to accelerate innovation, drive efficiencies and boost capacity, so we can get mission-critical capabilities into the hands of those who need them, faster.

“Examples include our new collaborative combat aircraft, designed to enable our customers to deploy a combined future force of crewed and uncrewed fighter jets, and investment in our facilities in Texas and New Hampshire to support the US Government’s ambition to quadruple production of critical munitions.

“The global threat picture remains highly volatile and governments are responding with sustained increases in their defence budgets.

“The combination of our proven execution, diverse geographic footprint and continued investment in our technology and facilities, alongside our healthy order backlog and growing opportunities across our markets, positions us to keep delivering long-term growth.”

Group highlights for the period include the unveiling of the Brontanax, the UK’s first uncrewed collaborative combat aircraft (CCA) at the Farnborough International Air Show last week.

The first-of-its class CCA was designed and built by engineers in Lancashire at BAE’s Warton site and is intended to provide electronic warfare and precision strike capabilities against airborne and ground targets.

Manufacturing of the first components for the new Eurofighter Typhoon aircraft ordered by Turkey is now under way at the company’s Samlesbury plant, with first delivery scheduled for 2030.

BAE’s Lancashire planemaking plants also took a leading role in the development of the APKWS counter-drone solution. And detailed design and development work on the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) continues at both sites.

Meanwhile, the group has been awarded a £5.9bn contract by the UK government to advance work on ‌the country’s next generation of nuclear-armed submarines.

The contract involves ​work on the next phase of ​Britain's Dreadnought class of submarines.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham was set to announce ​the investment later today on a ​visit to BAE's Barrow-in-Furness shipyard, ‌where ⁠the new submarines are being built.