{"id":2162507,"date":"2026-11-02T07:05:14","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T07:05:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/yorkshire\/?p=2162507"},"modified":"2026-11-02T07:08:24","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T07:08:24","slug":"yorkshire-entrepreneur-takes-aim-at-britains-defence-establishment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thebusinessdesk.com\/yorkshire\/news\/2162507-yorkshire-entrepreneur-takes-aim-at-britains-defence-establishment","title":{"rendered":"On the front line – the Yorkshire entrepreneur driving a new era of military vehicles"},"content":{"rendered":"
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It was perhaps fitting that I met Oliver North on Budget Day. As the Chancellor announced plans to increase defence spending, the Yorkshire entrepreneur had a blunt message for the Ministry of Defence. Get a reality check and learn from ‘entrepreneurial Europe’.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
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North, the former Royal Engineer behind Elland-based North Defence, said the commitment to spend 3% of GDP on defence by 2030, was \u201ca minimum requirement\u201d.<\/p>\n

And while more money is all very well. Spending it wisely is another matter. \u201cOur soldiers simply require relevant, mission proven kit, now.\u201d<\/p>\n

And his challenge over the Government’s \u00a35bn investment was equally blunt. \u201cThe test now is how much of the \u00a35bn investment reaches SMEs already doing the work. Too often, defence money flows to the same handful of primes while smaller, more agile British firms are unused.\u201d<\/p>\n

But perhaps the most extraordinary thing North tells me is what is happening on his own factory floor. As we speak, what he describes as the last generation of military vehicles requiring drivers is moving through production at Elland. From January, he expects the next phase of manufacturing to focus on unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs).\"\"<\/p>\n

No steering wheels. No drivers. A Yorkshire manufacturer preparing for a battlefield where machines increasingly do the dangerous work.<\/p>\n

It is a remarkable leap for a business that was making ambulances just a few years ago. And it helps explain why North, who has spent months in Ukraine and built a defence manufacturing business supplying NATO allies, has so little patience with Britain’s traditional approach to military procurement.<\/p>\n

He has watched warfare change at a speed that makes Whitehall’s purchasing processes look positively prehistoric. His argument is that Britain risks spending billions preparing for yesterday’s war while the next one is already being fought differently.<\/p>\n

And he is particularly scathing about one of the military’s most recognisable assets. \u201cI honestly think the tank is now pretty much redundant.\u201d<\/p>\n

A bold statement from someone who makes his living manufacturing military vehicles. But North believes cheap drones, autonomous systems and sophisticated software have fundamentally altered the economics of warfare.<\/p>\n

\u201cCheap hardware with sophisticated software is the winning thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ukraine, he argues, has been forced to innovate because its survival depends upon it. Britain remains wedded to lengthy purchasing cycles and major defence contractors. By the time a military requirement has been written, approved, tendered and awarded, the battlefield may have moved on.<\/p>\n

And North has a warning about what happens if the Government fails to change. \u201cI just think if that bureaucracy stays and they don’t change, naturally it’ll just be inefficient to manufacture in the UK.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is quite a statement from a man who has just invested in expanding his manufacturing operations in Elland. But North’s world now stretches considerably further than West Yorkshire.<\/p>\n

One week he might be discussing military requirements with European defence ministers. Another he could be in Ukraine, talking to soldiers whose lives depend upon the equipment his company manufactures.<\/p>\n

He has also met the Ukrainian former world heavyweight boxing champion Vitali Klitschko\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 .<\/p>\n

Not bad for a lad from Netherton who once struggled to persuade his boss that selling firefighters’ helmets was a good idea.<\/p>\n

From Yorkshire to Europe’s defence establishment<\/strong><\/h4>\n

North talks about meeting European defence ministers with the familiarity that most business owners reserve for meetings with their bank manager.<\/p>\n

Luxembourg has become an important part of North Defence’s operations, having opened its European headquarters\u00a0 there alongside its Yorkshire facilities. He talks of a nation that he says embraces industry, with an admirable way of life and approach to value for money.<\/p>\n

Through Luxembourg’s support for Ukraine, the company has also developed some of its most significant military relationships.<\/p>\n

North describes a markedly different approach to defence procurement among the European officials he encounters. He finds them more accessible, commercially minded and prepared to work directly with entrepreneurs capable of delivering equipment.<\/p>\n

They want to understand what a business can manufacture, how quickly it can do it and whether the product works. For North, it is a refreshing contrast to the British system, where smaller companies can struggle to get beyond the procurement process, never mind through it.<\/p>\n

Some of his engagements are not what you would necessarily expect in the diary of a Yorkshire manufacturing entrepreneur. But North appears as comfortable dealing with senior European figures as he does walking around a factory.<\/p>\n

And there is a serious commercial point beneath the colourful encounters. He believes European governments increasingly recognise that defence capability depends on entrepreneurial businesses able to respond to changing threats, quickly.<\/p>\n

His frustration is that British companies like his can find it easier to build relationships overseas than with their own government.<\/p>\n

From zero to \u00a330m<\/strong><\/h4>\n

At North Defence’s expanded factory in Elland, there is little evidence of a businessman waiting patiently for Whitehall.<\/p>\n

The company has opened a 50,000 sq ft manufacturing facility, doubling production space with plans to quadruple capacity. Its specialist light mobility vehicles (LMVs) are designed for versatility, rapid deployment and operation in demanding military environments.<\/p>\n

Among them is the LMV MKII, which North Defence is positioning for the British Army’s programme to replace ageing Land Rover and Pinzgauer vehicles. The programme represents a potentially substantial opportunity, although North’s route to securing work may depend on partnering with a successful bidder.<\/p>\n

But he is not putting all his eggs in the British Army’s basket. North says his defence business has gone from no turnover to around \u00a330m in two years.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’re above the clouds now,\u201d he says. \u201cWe’ll do \u00a36m profit this year, and next year north of \u00a39m.”<\/p>\n

These are North’s forecasts rather than independently verified results, but they illustrate the scale of his ambition. Perhaps more strikingly, the growth has been achieved without borrowing or outside equity investment.<\/p>\n

For a manufacturing business expanding internationally and developing new military technology, that is quite a claim. But North believes independence has been essential to his speed of decision-making.<\/p>\n

He has also established a joint venture with Staffordshire-based Strongs (Plastic Products) to manufacture specialist polymer vehicle bodies and developed a partnership with European defence technology company STARK involving the integration of tube-launched loitering munition across North Defence\u2019s LMVs and UGVs.<\/p>\n

His philosophy is relatively straightforward. Build the capability first. Find the customers who need it.<\/p>\n

The soldier who <\/strong>fast-tracked expectations<\/strong><\/h4>\n

North grew up in Netherton, near Huddersfield, and was not, by his own admission, a natural academic. \u201cThe classroom wasn’t for me, but the army absolutely was.\u201d<\/p>\n

He joined the Royal Engineers and spent seven years in the British Army, serving in Germany, Kosovo and Northern Ireland. But his career did not end as he had hoped.<\/p>\n

North left as a corporal after being discouraged from pursuing a potential commission as a non-graduate officer. There is something satisfying about the subsequent career trajectory.<\/p>\n

The soldier who was not encouraged to become an officer now regularly deals with senior European military figures and runs a company manufacturing vehicles for NATO allies.<\/p>\n

After leaving the Army in 2004, he began selling firefighting equipment. Working for a distributor, he spotted an opportunity to sell a particular type of firefighter’s helmet.<\/p>\n

His employer was less enthusiastic. \u201cDon’t waste my time. Don’t waste my time. Go and sell pumps.\u201d<\/p>\n

North, unsurprisingly, did not take the hint. He persuaded firefighters to try the helmets and gradually built demand, eventually establishing North Fire in 2008.<\/p>\n

The business expanded into manufacturing and developed a relationship with Austrian firefighting giant Rosenbauer, which acquired it in stages. For many entrepreneurs, that would have been the happy ending.<\/p>\n

North discovered he did not much enjoy being part of a large corporation. He felt like a small cog in a much bigger machine.<\/p>\n

And he was bored. In 2019, he became involved in turning around specialist vehicle manufacturer O&H Vehicle Technology \u2013 which later became Venari Group \u2013 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0which produced ambulances and other emergency vehicles.<\/p>\n

When Covid struck, the business secured work worth around \u00a332m supplying mobile testing centres across Britain. But the biggest change in North’s career was still to come.<\/p>\n

The war that changed everything<\/strong><\/h4>\n

When Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, North was manufacturing emergency vehicles. Within weeks, Ukrainian representatives approached him about producing armoured rescue vehicles.<\/p>\n

He had NHS customers, a civilian manufacturing operation and relationships that could be jeopardised by moving into military production. \u201cI think by that point I knew that if I put those vehicles into production, I was burning my bridges with the NHS.\u201d<\/p>\n

He contacted fleet managers to explain. Then he switched. North says the production changeover was initiated within a day. A Yorkshire manufacturer that had been making ambulances was suddenly responding to the demands of a European war.<\/p>\n

And North was about to discover that designing military vehicles from a factory in West Yorkshire was only part of the challenge. To understand what soldiers needed, he had to go and see for himself.<\/p>\n

Seven months in Ukraine<\/strong><\/h4>\n

North says he has spent a cumulative seven months in Ukraine since the invasion, making repeated visits to understand the realities of modern warfare.<\/p>\n

He has travelled there 17 times, meeting military personnel, seeing equipment in use and learning lessons that cannot be replicated in a boardroom. These are not conventional customer visits.<\/p>\n

In Ukraine, the difference between equipment that performs and equipment that fails can be measured in lives.<\/p>\n

North has met soldiers operating in conditions where mud, damaged roads, drones and artillery make even relatively straightforward journeys dangerous.<\/p>\n

The conversations have changed the way he thinks about vehicle design. It is no good producing something that looks impressive at a defence exhibition if it cannot be repaired, maintained or adapted in the field.<\/p>\n

And there is no point waiting years to perfect a product when the threat it was designed to counter may have changed within months.<\/p>\n

Among the people North has encountered is Vitali Klitschko, the former world heavyweight boxing champion whose involvement in Ukraine’s wartime efforts has made him an internationally recognised figure.<\/p>\n

It is another extraordinary connection in a career that has taken North from Yorkshire fire stations to the heart of Europe’s biggest conflict in generations.<\/p>\n

But the most revealing story he tells is not about meeting famous people. It is about driving an emergency vehicle into Ukraine himself.<\/p>\n

Asked to help deliver a civilian ambulance from Luxembourg to Kyiv, North says he was reluctant to send an employee into a potentially dangerous situation. So he volunteered to make the journey.<\/p>\n

It is not the sort of thing that normally appears in a chief executive’s job description. And it tells you rather more about his personality than another discussion about turnover or growth forecasts.<\/p>\n

North expects a great deal from his workforce. But he is also prepared to take on risks himself. The journey brought home the distance between the relative safety of his Yorkshire factory and the country where his vehicles are needed.<\/p>\n

North believes his direct connection with soldiers has given his business an advantage over manufacturers operating at a greater distance from the battlefield.<\/p>\n

The company says its customers include NATO member states, with equipment reaching Ukraine through allied governments rather than direct commercial sales.<\/p>\n

Through NATO\u2019s \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0support for Ukraine, North Defence has also been involved in supplying light mobility and general service vehicles. A business that once supplied firefighting equipment to British customers is now helping equip military personnel in a European war.<\/p>\n

Yet North seems less interested in the prestige of those connections than in what he has learned from them. Ukraine has shown him that military innovation is not necessarily driven by the biggest budgets or manufacturers. Sometimes it is driven by necessity, ingenuity and people prepared to try something new.<\/p>\n

No steering wheel, no driver<\/strong><\/h4>\n

Back in Elland, the lessons from Ukraine are helping shape the next generation of North Defence vehicles. For years, North’s businesses have adapted vehicles for demanding environments.<\/p>\n

Fire engines. Ambulances. Armoured rescue vehicles. Now the ambition is to manufacture machines that can operate without a driver.<\/p>\n

The company’s unmanned ground vehicles, or UGVs, are intended to move equipment and supplies through dangerous environments without exposing soldiers to the same risks.<\/p>\n

\"\"North believes the vehicles currently moving through production represent the end of an era. From January, he expects the first production UGV to mark the beginning of a new phase for the business.<\/p>\n

Military vehicles have traditionally been designed around the people operating them. Remove the driver and the possibilities change.<\/p>\n

A vehicle can be smaller, lighter and potentially cheaper. It can be sent into situations where putting a soldier behind the wheel would be too dangerous.<\/p>\n

North says the prototype has already attracted interest from military representatives. The company was also preparing to take a UGV to trials involving NATO representatives in the Swiss Alps. For North, this is where the future of military mobility lies.<\/p>\n

He sees expensive traditional equipment increasingly challenged by adaptable, relatively inexpensive technology. The prospect of driverless vehicles being manufactured in West Yorkshire might once have sounded like science fiction. North believes it is simply the next stage of a business that has repeatedly reinvented itself.<\/p>\n

The European contrast<\/strong><\/h4>\n

North’s experiences in NATO organisations and Ukraine have convinced him that governments can move faster when they work directly with manufacturers and take a more entrepreneurial approach.<\/p>\n

He describes regular contact with European defence ministers and senior military figures who are prepared to engage with smaller businesses.<\/p>\n

The contrast with Britain, in his view, is stark. He sees European decision-makers who understand that time matters, that a smaller manufacturer may have the answer and that innovation does not always emerge from the largest defence companies.<\/p>\n

In Britain, he argues, established contractors continue to dominate while smaller businesses face a procurement process that can feel designed to keep them out. There is, of course, another side to the argument.<\/p>\n

Military procurement involves public money, national security and equipment that must work in the most demanding conditions imaginable.<\/p>\n

Governments cannot simply dispense with oversight because an entrepreneur promises to deliver quickly. But North’s point is that speed and accountability should not be mutually exclusive, and the defence eco-system would be better served if organisations of different sizes worked together<\/p>\n

His business has expanded its Yorkshire manufacturing capacity while establishing a presence in Luxembourg, where it has found opportunities to work with European defence customers.<\/p>\n

That creates a question for Britain. If a Yorkshire manufacturer can build relationships with European governments and supply equipment for Ukraine, why should securing business at home prove so difficult?<\/p>\n

North believes defence spending should also be viewed as an investment in domestic industry. British contracts create jobs, support supply chains and keep manufacturing expertise in the country.<\/p>\n

But he is equally clear that he cannot allow sentiment to dictate where his business operates. If overseas customers offer a faster route to contracts and growth, the commercial logic becomes difficult to ignore.<\/p>\n

The man behind the military machines<\/strong><\/h4>\n

For all the international connections, prestigious dinners and military technology, North remains a Yorkshire entrepreneur who likes being close to the factory floor. His chief of staff, Rory Wilde, has been alongside him since the early days of North Fire in 2008.<\/p>\n

But there is a cost to being the man who always wants to make things happen. He admits he struggles to switch off.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do crave a holiday where I’m not thinking: Is that out the door? Is that being ordered? Is that set up? ?\u201d It is a familiar problem for entrepreneurs, although few have quite the same collection of things to worry about.<\/p>\n

There are factories in different countries, military customers, developing technology and vehicles destined for some of the most dangerous places in Europe. And behind the business success is a personal story that helps explain North’s determination.<\/p>\n

In 2008, as he was establishing North Fire, his mother died suddenly. Days later, he faced a customer meeting crucial to the future of his fledgling business.<\/p>\n

He went. And delivered the pitch. It is an episode that reveals the less glamorous side of entrepreneurship.<\/p>\n

The pressure to keep going does not disappear because life has dealt you a devastating blow. North’s military background taught him discipline and resilience. But building businesses has demanded a different kind of endurance.<\/p>\n

His career has been marked by decisions that might have appeared reckless to more cautious entrepreneurs. Ignoring the boss who told him to stop selling helmets.<\/p>\n

Walking away from corporate life after selling his first business. Switching an emergency vehicle operation towards military manufacturing when war broke out. Driving into Ukraine rather than asking an employee to take the risk. And now investing in technology that could make much of his existing product range look outdated.<\/p>\n

North would rather make a decision and deal with the consequences than wait for someone else to tell him what to do.<\/p>\n

A different kind of defence business<\/strong><\/h4>\n

North Defence’s next challenge is arguably its biggest. Moving from manufacturing conventional military vehicles to developing autonomous platforms will require substantial technical expertise, investment and customer confidence.<\/p>\n

The company’s projected profits must materialise. Its expanded factories need orders. And interest in its driverless technology must translate into more contracts. North knows that.<\/p>\n

But he has spent much of his career taking opportunities before there was any guarantee they would succeed. He has already sold one business, experienced corporate life and discovered that financial success does not necessarily deliver personal satisfaction.<\/p>\n

For now, he appears more interested in building something substantial than selling it. And there is something compelling about the contrast between his origins and his present circumstances.<\/p>\n

The boy from Netherton who did not enjoy school became a soldier. The soldier who did not become an officer became an entrepreneur. The entrepreneur who sold firefighters’ helmets now meets European defence ministers,\u00a0 dines with dignitaries, encountered one of Ukraine’s most famous sporting figures and manufactures vehicles for NATO allies. He also counts Eddie Hearn as a friend of 15 years, someone who North says keeps him grounded with a rise far greater than his own during the same timeframe.<\/p>\n

Yet his most important conversations may still be with the soldiers he meets in Ukraine. They are the people who tell him whether his vehicles work, what needs changing and what might save lives.<\/p>\n

It is a perspective he believes Britain’s defence establishment could learn from. Because for all the arguments about budgets, procurement and industrial strategy, the question is ultimately a simple one.<\/p>\n

Can Britain get the right equipment to the people who need it, quickly enough? North thinks it can. But not if it continues doing everything the way it always has.<\/p>\n

The last generation of his driver-operated vehicles is already coming off the production line. Whether Whitehall is ready for what comes next is another matter.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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