NATO's £37bn missile bet hinges on workers few nations want to train

In Ankara this week, Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer convened around a dozen NATO leaders to discuss a new £37 billion missile project. The announcement marks a significant commitment to allied defence spending. Yet beneath the diplomatic ceremony lies a constraint that defence planners rarely discuss in public: the shortage of skilled workers willing to enter the defence manufacturing sector.

The project will require production lines across multiple allied nations, each needing engineers, technicians, and assembly workers trained to exacting standards. Reports from defence contractors across Europe and North America suggest that recruitment in these fields has slowed since the post-Cold War period, when such work was more culturally embedded in industrial towns. Wages in defence manufacturing have risen, but recruitment officers report persistent difficulty filling mid-level technical roles.

The challenge is not unique to NATO. Similar labour shortages have hampered renewable-energy projects, semiconductor fabs, and infrastructure programmes across the developed world. What distinguishes defence work is the security vetting required — a months-long process that deters some candidates before they even apply. The Ankara gathering signals NATO's confidence in the project's necessity, but not its confidence in the workforce question.