ADS Group Limited, informally known as ADS, is the trade organisation representing the aerospace, defence, security and space industries in the United Kingdom. It has more than 1,000 member companies across its sectors, including some of the UK's largest manufacturers, like

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

Rolls-Royce Rolls-Royce (always hyphenated) may refer to: * Rolls-Royce Limited, a British manufacturer of cars and later aero engines, founded in 1906, now defunct Automobiles * Rolls-Royce Motor Cars, the current car manufacturing company incorporated in ...

BAE Systems BAE Systems plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational Aerospace industry, aerospace, military technology, military and information security company, based in London. It is the largest manufacturer in Britain as of 2017. It is ...

, Meggitt PLC and GKN. Its subsidiary Farnborough International Limited runs the biennial

Farnborough Air Show The Farnborough International Airshow is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors in Farnborough, Hampshire. Since its first show in ...

, one of the world's biggest air shows, and other events.

History

ADS Group Limited was incorporated on 11 September 2009 as a private, limited by guarantee, no share capital company registered in the United Kingdom with company number 07016635. It was formed from the merger of the Association of Police and Public Security Suppliers (APPSS), the Defence Manufacturers Association (DMA) and the

Society of British Aerospace Companies The Society of British Aerospace Companies (SBAC, formerly Society of British Aircraft Constructors) was the UK's national trade association representing companies supplying civil air transport, aerospace defence, homeland security and space. ...

(SBAC).

Activities

ADS activities are focussed on supporting UK manufacturing and its industries supply chains, contributing to policy debates of importance to its industries, encouraging investments in technology and innovation, supporting business development, and enhancing the profile of its sectors. Its current published priority issues are around developing industrial strategy, productivity supply chain improvements, public procurement, and delivering net zero carbon by 2050. Farnborough International Limited, which runs the

Farnborough Airshow The Farnborough International Airshow is a trade exhibition for the aerospace and defence industries, where civilian and military aircraft are demonstrated to potential customers and investors in Farnborough, Hampshire. Since its first show in ...

, is a wholly owned subsidiary of ADS. ADS also encompasses the British Aviation Group (BAG). The organization participates in joint initiatives between industry and Government, including the Aerospace Growth Partnership and Defence Growth Partnership. It leads the National Aerospace Technology Exploitation Programme (NATEP), supported by funding from the Aerospace Technology Institute, aimed at helping UK supply chain companies develop innovative technologies. ADS is the largest member and contributor to the Aerospace and Defence Industries Association of Europe (ASD), the trade association representing Aerospace, Defence and Space in Europe. It publishes a quarterly magazine covering its four sectors, ADS Advance, and annual economic outlook reports on the UK aerospace, defence and security sectors.

Events

ADS coordinates UK Pavilions for UK companies exhibiting at international shows such as

Paris Air Show The Paris Air Show (, ''Salon du Bourget'') is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in France. Organized by the French aerospace industry's primary representative body, the ''Groupement des industries frança ...

and Singapore Air Show. The 2017 Paris Air Show saw 88 UK companies exhibiting in the UK Pavilion, while 150 companies exhibited in the 2017 UK Pavilion at DSEI. It also runs the annual United Kingdom Aerospace Youth Rocketry Challenge, a competition for secondary school student teams. The UK national champions compete in the International Rocketry Challenge against winners of the US, French and Japanese competitions. The International Rocketry Challenge final is held at the

in alternating years. ADS holds an Annual Dinner for member companies and invited guests, and since 2015 has held an annual reception in Parliament for apprentices from across its member companies.

Special Interest Groups

ADS has more than 30 Special Interest Groups formed of members with similar professional specialisms. All groups deliver activities that are led by members, and cover areas including aerospace exports, aircraft interiors, maritime, training and simulation, and environmental issues.

Offices

The head office is situated on the

Albert Embankment Albert Embankment is part of the river bank on the south side of the River Thames in Central London. It stretches approximately one mile (1.6 km) northward from Vauxhall Bridge to Westminster Bridge, and is located in the London Borough ...

( A3036), on the opposite side of the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after th ...

Millbank Tower Millbank Tower is a skyscraper in the City of Westminster at Millbank, by the River Thames in London, England. The tower was constructed in 1963, and has been home to many high-profile political organisations, including the Labour Party (UK), L ...

, and next to the headquarters of the

London Fire Brigade The London Fire Brigade (LFB) is the Fire department, fire and rescue service for London, the capital of the United Kingdom. It was formed by the Metropolitan Fire Brigade Act 1865 (28 & 29 Vict. c. 90), under the leadership of superintendent ...

and the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

International Maritime Organization The International Maritime Organization (IMO; ; ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for regulating maritime transport. The IMO was established following agreement at a ...

, east of

Lambeth Bridge Lambeth Bridge is a road traffic and footbridge crossing the River Thames in an east–west direction in central London. The river flows north at the crossing point. Downstream, the next bridge is Westminster Bridge; upstream, the next bridge i ...

. It also has offices in * Farnborough *

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

Belfast Belfast (, , , ; from ) is the capital city and principal port of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan and connected to the open sea through Belfast Lough and the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel ...

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

, France

Governance

ADS is overseen by the ADS Board, comprising the President, Chief Executive and representatives of member companies. Day-to-day operations are the responsibility of the Executive Team. A number of Boards and Committees oversee specific areas of work, such as membership, business ethics, and civil aviation safety. The ADS Chief Executive is Kevin Craven, who took up the post in April 2021, succeeding Paul Everitt, Chief Executive from 2013 to 2021. The current President is David Lockwood OBE, Chief Executive Officer at Babcock International Group. Previous Presidents include Julian Whitehead, Executive Vice-President Global Business and Strategic Programmes of Airbus Defence & Space,

Tony Wood (British businessman) Antony Wood (born April 1966) is a British businessman, and the CEO of Meggitt PLC since January 2018, when he succeeded Stephen Young (businessman), Stephen Young, having previously been chief operating officer (COO). Early life Wood earned a b ...

, Chief Executive of Meggitt PLC and former Rolls-Royce senior executive Colin Smith.

Membership

Membership is made up of more than 1,000 UK registered businesses. Companies include: *

Airbus UK Airbus UK (formerly EADS UK) is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Airbus, based in the United Kingdom, which produces wings for Airbus aircraft. When Airbus (at the time known as EADS) was incorporated as a joint-stock company in 2001, BAE Systems t ...

* Atkins *

Boeing UK Boeing United Kingdom Limited (; or simply Boeing UK) is a subsidiary of Boeing that operates in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland, Ireland. The managing director of Boeing UK & Ireland is Martin Donnelly (civil servant), Sir Martin ...

Daher Daher (also stylized as DAHER) is a French industrial conglomerate. It is operational across the aerospace, defence, nuclear, and automotive industrial sectors in the fields of manufacturing, services, and transport. It was founded in 1863 ...

Aerospace * Leonardo UK *

GE Aviation General Electric Company, doing business as GE Aerospace, is an American aircraft engine supplier that is headquartered in Evendale, Ohio, outside Cincinnati. It is the legal successor to the original General Electric Company founded in 1892, wh ...

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

UK * GKN *

Marshall Aerospace and Defence Group Marshall Group (registered as Marshall of Cambridge (Holdings) Ltd,) is a British company headquartered in Cambridge, United Kingdom. Subsidiaries include Marshall Aerospace, an aircraft maintenance, modification, and design company located a ...

* Messier-Dowty * Meggitt PLC *

Qinetiq QinetiQ ( as in '' kinetic'') is a British defence technology company headquartered in Farnborough, Hampshire. It operates primarily in the defence, security and critical national infrastructure markets and run testing and evaluation capabili ...

Raytheon Raytheon is a business unit of RTX Corporation and is a major U.S. defense contractor and industrial corporation with manufacturing concentrations in weapons and military and commercial electronics. Founded in 1922, it merged in 2020 with Unite ...

Systems *

Rolls-Royce Holdings Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British Multinational corporation, multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and dist ...

Serco Serco Group plc is a British multinational corporation, multinational military, defence, Healthcare, health, Space industry, space, private prison, justice, Human migration, migration, customer service, customer services, and transport company ...

Spirit AeroSystems Spirit AeroSystems Holdings, Inc. is an American Manufacturing, manufacturer of aerostructures for commercial airplanes, headquartered in Wichita, Kansas. The company produces fuselage sections for Boeing's Boeing 737, 737 and Boeing 787 Dreaml ...

Thales Air Defence Thales Air Defence Limited (TADL), formerly Shorts Missile Systems (SMS), is a defence contractor based in Belfast, Northern Ireland, producing short range air defence missiles. Shorts Missile Systems was established as a joint venture betwee ...

Annual Dinner

Each year ADS hosts an Annual Dinner for member companies from across its four sectors, and invited guests from across industry, politics, the armed forces, government and the media. The 8th ADS Annual Dinner in 2017 was addressed by ADS & Airbus President Paul Kahn - who spoke about the impact of Brexit on the ADS industries and about the Single Source Regulatory Office (SSRO) - and by former UK foreign secretary William Hague. The 2018 Annual Dinner, the 9th edition of the event, was held on 15 January in London. It drew more than 900 attendees, with speeches from ADS President Colin P. Smith, and Airbus Chief Executive

Tom Enders Thomas Enders (born December 21, 1958) is a German business executive who served as the chief executive of Airbus (formerly EADS, Airbus Group) from 2012 until 2019. Since 2019, Thomas has been the president of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für ausw ...

. A charity collection for SSAFA – the Armed Forces Charity, raised more than £13,000 in donations. In 2019, speakers included Colin P. Smith, BAE Systems Chief Executive Charles Woodburn and former Home Secretary

Alan Johnson Alan Arthur Johnson (born 17 May 1950) is a British politician who served as Secretary of State for Education and Skills from 2006 to 2007, Secretary of State for Health from 2007 to 2009, Home Secretary from 2009 to 2010, and Shadow Chancello ...

. The 2020 Annual Dinner was addressed by the newly appointed ADS President Tony Wood and Rolls-Royce Chief Executive

Warren East Sir David Warren Arthur East (born 27 October 1961) is a British businessman and engineer. He is a former chief executive officer (CEO) of Rolls-Royce Holdings, a leading UK-based engine manufacturer, and previously held senior positions at ARM ...

, who both spoke about the importance of the aviation industry addressing the challenges posed by climate change and acting firmly to cut carbon emissions, as well as the value of industrial strategy partnership between industry and Government. The after-dinner speaker was

Eliza Manningham-Buller Elizabeth Lydia Manningham-Buller, Baroness Manningham-Buller (born 14 July 1948) is a retired British intelligence officer. She worked as a teacher for three years before joining MI5, the British internal Security Service. She led the newly c ...

the former Director-General of MI5, while the dinner was also addressed by speakers from Armed Forces charity SSAFA and Invictus UK. There was no 2021 Annual Dinner due to the Covid pandemic. ADS instead held a virtual event, ADS Live, with speakers including

Kwasi Kwarteng Akwasi Addo Alfred Kwarteng (born 26 May 1975) is a British politician who served as the Chancellor of the Exchequer from September to October 2022 under Liz Truss and the Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy from 202 ...

, Deborah Haynes and Interim Chief Executive Kevin Craven.

References

External links

ADS Group

Aerospace Technology Institute

''ADS Advance''

News items

* ttps://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2017/06/14/aerospace-industry-warns-against-hard-brexit/ Daily Telegraph - Aerospace Industry Warns Against Hard Brexit
CityAM - Aircraft Order Books Soar To A New High

Shephard Media - DSEI 2017: UK procurement process could eliminate innovation

BBC News - Queen's Speech: Plan aims to secure space sector

Guardian - Aircraft orders increase tenfold in a year in boost for UK manufacturing
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