Defence Secretary John Healey hosted German Defence Minister Boris Pistorius at RAF Lossiemouth on 23 October 2025, marking one year since the UK–Germany Trinity House Agreement on Defence and confirming new steps on cyber cooperation and anti‑submarine warfare. The Ministry of Defence described the visit as a milestone in joint activity spanning the air and maritime domains.
A new Lighthouse project under Trinity House will link the UK’s Cyber & Specialist Operations Command (CSOC) and Germany’s Cyber and Information Domain Service (CIDS) through a secure cloud capability to share data, intelligence and operational tools with each other and NATO allies in real time. CSOC stood up on 1 September 2025 as the successor to Strategic Command, bringing cyber and specialist capabilities under one military command.
Alongside the bilateral cloud work, London and Berlin will tighten cooperation to protect NATO logistics and transport networks against cyber threats-an area now supported by Alliance-wide initiatives such as the Integrated Cyber Defence Centre and NCIA’s private‑cloud modernisation of the NATO Operational Network. The UK government states the bilateral measures are designed to complement these NATO efforts.
Operational integration continues at Lossiemouth. The ministers were set to join an RAF Poseidon P‑8A flight, and the German Navy will deploy a P‑8A to the base in the coming months to prepare for future joint missions in the North Atlantic. German crews have already twice flown on UK P‑8A sorties from Lossiemouth within NATO’s Baltic Sentry activity, which was launched in January 2025 to safeguard critical undersea infrastructure.
Equipment plans are being aligned. The UK and Germany reaffirmed work towards a cooperative purchase of the UK’s Sting Ray Mod 2 lightweight torpedo for maritime patrol aircraft, building on commitments set out in the Trinity House joint communique and subsequent progress statements issued in May 2025. The aim is to strengthen NATO’s underwater defence with common munitions and training pipelines.
The industrial strand has accelerated. According to the Ministry of Defence, German companies have committed £800 million of investment in the UK defence sector over the next decade, supporting around 600 skilled jobs across London, Telford, Swindon and Plymouth. The package is framed by the Government’s Plan for Change and the UK–Germany defence partnership.
Rheinmetall’s new gun‑barrel facility in Telford will restore a sovereign manufacturing capability not seen in a decade, using British steel from Sheffield Forgemasters. Company statements and local government notices indicate production ramp‑up from 2027, with several hundred roles linked directly and through supply chains.
Further German investment spans uncrewed and AI‑enabled systems. MOD materials cite: Helsing preparing a maritime glider drone facility in Plymouth, backed by large AI funding rounds; ARX Robotics committing £45 million and 90 jobs to a new UK site for unmanned systems; and Stark opening a first facility outside Germany in Wiltshire, with around 100 jobs. Public statements by the firms and regional reporting corroborate locations and job estimates.
Long‑range strike cooperation continues under Trinity House. In May 2025 the two governments confirmed a joint Deep Precision Strike effort seeking a range beyond 2,000 km, positioned within the European Long Range Strike Approach and intended to reinforce NATO deterrence while deepening industrial collaboration.
Policy Wire analysis: for operators, the Lossiemouth arrangements point to more mixed UK–German P‑8A detachments and common tactics against Russian submarine activity in the GIUK gap, while the CSOC–CIDS cloud should shorten incident‑response times across borders. For industry, the UK supply chain gains medium‑term visibility from Rheinmetall’s Telford plans and from incoming unmanned systems production, though delivery schedules and export licensing will set the pace. The measures are anchored in government-to-government agreements rather than ad‑hoc MOUs, which should aid continuity through budget cycles.
The Trinity House Agreement was signed on 23 October 2024 and has since been expanded through a joint communique and ministerial updates. Today’s Lossiemouth announcements are presented by the UK MOD as the next set of deliverables under that framework, complementing NATO initiatives on cyber resilience and undersea infrastructure protection.