Grounded by policy
The UK has major drone potential, yet policy gaps persist. Louise Birkett asks whether government can act quickly enough.
T
he Defence Investment Plan has no shortage of ambition for uncrewed systems. It promises billions of pounds
of investment and more equipment across all domains. But money and platforms are only part of the challenge. If the UK is to turn innovation into
deployable capability and commercial success, the policy system around it needs to work far more coherently. Government policy is too often made in silos, with departments, agencies and regulators working to different priorities and timescales. For businesses, this can mean
having to liaise with multiple organisations, each responsible for a separate part of the process. Good maps come recommended. More seriously, it can leave gaps
between policies that appear sensible individually but fail to form a coherent pathway. In the UK drone economy, one of the largest gaps is development.
50 Advance | Autumn 2026
The development gap In the interviews following publication of the DIP, Lord Dannatt observed that the UK tends to innovate and then allows others to develop the technology.
It is a point with which John Moffat, founder and chief executive of The Structural Battery Company, agrees. The company is developing technology that uses the structural crossbars of uncrewed aerial vehicles to house energy storage, reducing weight and potentially improving performance. “The UK has many of the ingredients to lead the world in advanced technology, but we need to become better at turning innovation into commercial success,” Moffat said. “Government policy can be well- intentioned but create unintended outcomes. For example, broadening Enterprise Investment Scheme eligibility risks drawing capital
away from the smaller, early-stage businesses the scheme was designed to support.”
The UK supports research and
innovation, but the route from a successful demonstration to scaled production, commercial orders and export growth is far less certain. That gap is particularly significant
in the drone sector, where technology, operating requirements and threats are changing rapidly. UK businesses must navigate investment, testing, regulation, airspace access, procurement and export controls, often through different organisations. A delay at any stage can leave a promising product overtaken by a competitor or the next technological development. Moffat argues that the limited
availability of growth capital is one reason UK companies look overseas. “There are only two places where
start-ups can reliably access growing capital: the USA and China,” he said.
Photo credit: Prostock-studio/
stock.adobe.com
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