Our international Defence & Security team contributes to the global 2026 edition of 'Lexology Panoramic: Defence & Security Procurement’

Bird & Bird's International Defence & Security team are delighted to have contributed to the global 2026 edition of 'Lexology Panoramic: Defence & Security Procurement'. Our team has written the Global Overview, the Australia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Sweden, and UK chapters, and Mark Leach and Jono Ellis are contributing editors for the publication.

The annual publication provides excellent expert analysis on how to navigate defence procurement, including the regulatory environment, hot topics on contracting, export control, dispute resolution, anti-corruption, employment law and more.

Global trends in the defence sector

The global security environment remains highly volatile, shaped by ongoing conflicts and rising geopolitical tensions. The wars in Ukraine and Gaza have continued to have a major impact on the wider international defence environment. The aftermath of the US election has introduced a degree of uncertainty in American foreign policy that has unnerved many countries within the western alliance and has intensified pressure on the UK and the EU to expand their defence capabilities and reduce their historic reliance on the transatlantic security guarantee. Simultaneously, the strategic competition between the United States and China continues to intensify across sectors deemed critical to national security: aerospace, space, artificial intelligence (AI), quantum computing, communications and data security. Trade restrictions and export controls on strategic materials such as semiconductors and rare earth minerals, have broadened the risk of a broader global trade conflict. In response, governments are increasingly prioritising industrial sovereignty and domestic production capacity, fundamentally reshaping defence procurement and supply chain strategies.

This volatile geopolitical backdrop has catalysed a number of significant trends, some of which have been evident for some time, others of which are new. This chapter will consider a number of these trends in turn: the increase in defence spending, the impact of AI and other technological advances, supply chain innovation, developments in the militarisation of space and the rising importance of cybersecurity.

We express our concern for all those impacted by conflict globally and hope for a swift resolution to the violence and a de-escalation of the geopolitical tensions currently affecting many regions.

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Please get in touch with Mark and Jono if you would like to hear more about how our international team can help you.

Reproduced with permission from Law Business Research Ltd. This guide was first published in Lexology Panoramic: Defence & Security Procurement 2026 (Published: January 2026).