---
title: "AMufacture CEO says company can help deliver UK’s £5bn drone investment plan"
url: https://www.voxelmatters.com/amufacture-ceo-says-company-can-help-deliver-uks-5bn-drone-investment-plan/
date: 2026-07-09
modified: 2026-07-09
lang: en
author: "Joseph Caron-Dawe"
description: "The CEO of AMufacture, a Portsmouth-based additive manufacturing contract manufacturer, has said the company is well positioned to help deliver the UK government's Defense Investment Plan (DIP), which includes £5..."
categories:
  - "AM Industry"
  - "Defense"
  - "Money & Funding"
tags:
  - "insights"
image: https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/AMufacture-UK-defense-dividend-02-640x400.jpg
word_count: 409
---

# AMufacture CEO says company can help deliver UK’s £5bn drone investment plan

The CEO of [AMufacture](https://www.voxelmatters.directory/company/amfacture/), a Portsmouth-based additive manufacturing contract manufacturer, has said the company is well positioned to help deliver the UK government's Defense Investment Plan (DIP), which includes £5 billion ($6.7 billion) for new autonomous machinery. AMufacture already supplies components for drones and autonomous systems across air, land, sea and underwater domains.

[Craig Pyser is also chair of the additive manufacturing trade association AMUK](https://www.voxelmatters.com/amuk-appoints-craig-pyser-as-its-new-chair/), and has said the DIP was “a long‑awaited step in the right direction”, but also [cautioned against repeating past failures to convert investment into industrial capability](https://www.voxelmatters.com/amuk-fundamental-knowledge-gap-blocks-110m-in-defense-manufacturing-savings/).

“It's positive that the plan has finally landed but we must be honest about the scale of the challenge,” said AMufacture’s CEO Pyser. “We squandered the peace dividend for 80 years. We cannot afford to squander the defense dividend.”

## Procurement reform and industry incentives

![AMufacture CEO says company can help deliver UK](https://www.voxelmatters.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/AMufacture-UK-defense-dividend-01-340x213.jpg)

Pyser called for changes to defense procurement, saying the current system was too slow to bring UK manufacturers fully into defense modernization at the pace the plan demands.

“The first thing the government must do is fix defense procurement to ensure that agile, innovative, UK-based manufacturers such as ourselves can play a full part in modernizing our defense capabilities,” he said. “As it stands, the system is simply too slow and too traditional to deliver the technology we need at the pace we need it.”

Pyser added that defense manufacturers, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, had already been building capability ahead of the plan's release, and called on the government to recognize that work. Pyser also urged business rate discounts and tax reliefs for defense-related employment, arguing that support needs to extend across the supply chain to make new jobs sustainable.

## Drone manufacturing capability

AMufacture, founded by Pyser and former naval architect and Olympic sailor Will Howden, has built one of the largest polymer 3D printer fleets in Europe using HP Multi Jet Fusion technology and production-scale automation.

“There's no need for significant amounts of traditional tooling to make every component. [We have developed one of the largest fleets of advanced polymer 3D printers in Europe](https://www.voxelmatters.com/amufacture-invests-in-further-hp-printer-acquisition-as-part-of-growth-strategy/), which enables rapid, precise and repeatable production,” he added.

Pyser also pointed to the Ministry of Defence's "hub and spoke" model, under which parts are printed near where they are needed rather than shipped from the UK, calling it a way to build sovereign capability quickly. He claimed the UK is NATO's lead nation for AM adoption. Defense has grown to become AMufacture's largest revenue sector in 2026.