US suppliers entering UK defence · 6 of 8
MOD routes to market and where the money is
The Defence Industrial Strategy 2025 set a target to increase MOD spend with SMEs by £2.5bn by 2028 and to raise direct SME spending by 50% by May 2028, supported by a Defence Office for Small Business Growth and an SME Commercial Pathway. For a mid-sized US supplier, that is a stated policy tailwind.
What this involves
- Identify the routes that fit what you sell: direct MOD competition, Defence Equipment and Support, framework call-offs, innovation routes, or subcontract positions behind an established UK prime.
- Assess honestly whether subcontracting is the better first move, which for most US entrants without UK track record it is.
- Run the capture work: opportunity qualification, competitor mapping, and the bid or no-bid discipline that stops a first UK campaign consuming a year for nothing.
- Write the submissions, including the UK-specific content that US suppliers consistently underestimate: social value, UK supply chain commitments, and evidence framed for a UK evaluator rather than a US contracting officer.
The assumption that costs US entrants the most
Bidding prime too early. A US supplier with excellent technology, no UK delivery record and no UK entity will lose prime competitions to firms the evaluator already knows, and will lose them expensively. The faster route is almost always a subcontract position that builds referenceable UK delivery, followed by prime bids once there is a track record an evaluator can verify.
Why it matters
Choosing the wrong route wastes the first year, which is the year in which a US board is deciding whether the UK market is real. Sequencing is the difference between a UK operation that gets funded again and one that gets closed.
Common questions
Is the UK defence market actually open to US suppliers?
Yes, and the current policy direction is favourable to new entrants and smaller suppliers. The Defence Industrial Strategy 2025 set out a target to increase MOD spending with SMEs by £2.5bn by 2028 and to raise direct SME spend by 50% by May 2028, alongside a Defence Office for Small Business Growth and an SME Commercial Pathway. Access is not the constraint. Track record, clearances and UK-specific compliance usually are.
Should we bid as a prime or subcontract first?
For most US entrants, subcontract first. Prime competitions weight verifiable delivery record heavily and a UK evaluator cannot easily verify US performance. A subcontract position behind an established UK prime generates the referenceable delivery that makes a later prime bid credible, and it does so while your clearances and compliance mature.
What do UK evaluators want that US contracting officers do not?
Social value is the biggest single difference and it catches almost every US entrant. UK public procurement scores committed social and economic benefit, and from the PPN 026 model the weighting and thresholds are changing again from January 2027. Expect also to evidence UK supply chain commitments and to write for an evaluator scoring against published criteria rather than for a technical reviewer.
Cleared support
Consultants cleared to Baseline Personnel Security Standard and Security Check, with Developed Vetting cleared personnel available where a requirement demands it.
Reviewed 22 August 2026 against MOD published policy. Nothing here is legal, export control or security advice, and defence policy moves: confirm the current published position before planning around anything on this page.
The rest of the entry picture
See the full UK entry overview for US defence suppliers, or our MOD bid writing service.
Testing whether the UK is worth it?
That is the right question and we will answer it straight, including when the answer is not yet. A director replies. We work US business hours by arrangement.
MOD routes to market and where the money is
What do you supply, who buys it in the US today, and what has prompted the UK question?