Protect nations while reinventing how security is engineered.

A Global Industry, Built to Protect Nations

Global military spending reached a record $2.887 trillion in 2025, its 11th consecutive year of growth, with the world’s defence burden now at 2.5% of GDP, its highest level since 2009.

This scale spans every major hub:

United States: the world’s largest defence spender at $954 billion in 2025, accounting for around a third of global military expenditure.
Germany: Europe’s largest defence spender outside Russia, with expenditure up 24% to $114 billion, exceeding NATO’s 2% GDP guideline for the first time since 1990.
Poland: NATO’s top spender relative to GDP, allocating 4.3% of its economy to defence in 2025, alongside a rapidly expanding domestic arms industry.
France: one of NATO’s five largest defence budgets, at $66.5 billion in 2025, anchoring one of Europe’s most integrated defence industrial bases.

Companies across the sector share the same challenge: scaling production and innovation fast enough to meet surging demand, while integrating new technologies such as drones, cyber defence and AI into increasingly complex procurement programmes. This is where ABGi operates, helping them secure R&D tax credits and innovation funding to power that transformation.

Key Strategic and Operational Challenges for the Sector

Complex Procurement and Regulatory Compliance

Navigating lengthy, multi jurisdictional procurement processes alongside export controls and security clearances.

Cybersecurity and Critical Infrastructure Protection

Defending military, government and civilian infrastructure against increasingly sophisticated and frequent cyber attacks.

Rapid Technology Integration

Incorporating AI, autonomous systems, drones and cyber capabilities into defence platforms at a pace matching evolving threats.

Production Scale-Up and Capacity

Ramping up manufacturing output to meet surging orders while easing bottlenecks across defence supply chains.

Supply Chain Sovereignty

Reducing dependency on foreign components and securing access to critical raw materials for defence production.

Talent and Skills Shortage

Attracting and retaining engineers, cyber specialists and skilled technicians in a highly competitive labour market.

Key figures for the sector

$ 2.887T

Global military spending in 2025, a record high

$ 1.581T

Combined defence spending of NATO’s 32 member states in 2025

2.5%

Share of global GDP devoted to military expenditure, the highest since 2009

14%

Increase in European defence spending in 2025, reaching $864 billion

Focus on the 4 Strategic Levers

Innovation

Research and development of autonomous systems, drones and next generation combat platforms.
Advanced materials and manufacturing techniques to improve platform performance and survivability.
Development of AI powered decision support and battlefield intelligence systems.

Operations & Performance

Scaling production capacity and optimising supply chains to meet record order volumes.
Reducing lead times across multi tier defence supplier networks.
Building more resilient, sovereign industrial processes less exposed to single source dependencies.

Technology

AI and machine learning to enhance surveillance, threat detection and predictive maintenance.
Cybersecurity technologies to protect military systems and critical civilian infrastructure.
Simulation, digital twins and virtual training systems to accelerate readiness.

ESG & Sustainability

Reducing the environmental footprint of military operations and equipment.
Developing more energy efficient platforms and alternative fuel sources for defence applications.
Strengthening ethical governance and compliance across increasingly complex global supply chains.