Toby McCrindle has been quoted in The Telegraph in an article examining why UK defence startups are increasingly heading overseas to test autonomous technologies, including uncrewed aircraft, maritime systems and counter UAV platforms.
The piece highlights how complex regulatory processes, limited testing ranges and slow approvals from UK authorities are pushing high growth companies to relocate trials to countries such as Ukraine, Spain, Estonia and the United States.
He commented: “Some incredible British businesses have come out of the traps in the last few years. And they’ve hired some of the top engineering minds from our best universities, raised money and built world-leading capabilities. But we’ve ended up in a perverse situation where they are having to send their equipment out of the UK to test it.”
The article also notes that this lack of domestic testing capacity risks slowing innovation and undermining the UK’s competitive position in fast‑moving defence technologies.
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