Defence & defence technology

Insurance for defence and defence-technology businesses

Yes — Apex places insurance for UK defence and defence-technology businesses: professional indemnity for design, engineering and consultancy work, and products liability, cyber and the liability covers that MOD and prime contracts require. We arrange it through the Lloyd’s market via wholesale, with the worldwide including US jurisdiction, minimum limits, additional-insured naming and certificates your defence contracts set out.

Part of: Commercial insurance

In short

Defence and defence technology is a contract-driven class. Ministry of Defence work carries standard conditions — DEFCONs — and technical standards — Def Stans — that set out what a supplier must do and deliver, and prime contractors flow the same requirements down their supply chain. A design or advisory error, a defective component, or a cyber incident can each trigger a claim or a breach of contract, so the cover has to match the obligations. Defence suppliers typically need professional indemnity for design and consultancy, products liability for the equipment they make and supply, cyber cover alongside their DEFCON 658 obligations, and employers’ and public liability. Contracts often require worldwide including US jurisdiction, minimum limits, and the prime named as an additional insured on a certificate. We place the programme through the Lloyd’s market and make sure it meets the contract.

Who this is for

‘Defence and defence technology’ covers a broad range of UK businesses, and the cover that leads depends on what you actually do:

What you do	The cover that leads
Design, engineering and technical consultancy to the MOD or a prime	Professional indemnity
Making or supplying equipment, components or assemblies	Products liability
Software, systems and defence electronics	Professional indemnity plus products liability
Handling MOD information or building to a Cyber Security Model profile	Cyber, alongside your DEFCON 658 obligations
Dual-use, security or defence-technology research and development	Professional indemnity, products and cyber — with export-control awareness
Also working in aerospace and aviation	Specialist aviation cover — see aerospace and aviation insurance

Most established defence suppliers are a blend — a consultancy that also builds hardware, or a manufacturer that also advises — and needs the professional and the products sides arranged together, not in separate silos.

The covers defence suppliers actually need

For a defence or defence-technology business, the programme usually pulls from a familiar set of covers:

Professional indemnity — for design, engineering, advisory and consultancy work, where the loss is the cost of putting a professional mistake right, including errors and omissions in the specifications and analysis you sign off.
Products liability — your legal liability if equipment, a component or an assembly you designed, made or supplied causes injury or damage once it is in service.
Cyber — for the response and liability costs of a cyber incident, and to sit alongside the security obligations MOD contracts impose; see cyber insurance. It complements, and does not replace, your DEFCON 658 compliance.
Employers’ liability — a legal requirement once you employ people, and public liability where your people work on client, MOD or other third-party sites.
Worldwide and US jurisdiction — where a contract is US-facing, cover has to be written to respond there; see US-jurisdiction professional indemnity and US-jurisdiction public liability.

DEFCONs, Def Stans and the Cyber Security Model

Defence work is contract-driven, and the contract sets the obligations the insurance has to sit around:

DEFCONs and Def Stans. MOD contracts carry standard conditions called DEFCONs, which govern how you work, and technical standards called Def Stans, which govern what your deliverables must achieve. Both are binding when a contract calls them up, and a prime typically flows the same requirements down its supply chain.
DEFCON 658 and the Cyber Security Model. DEFCON 658 sets the cyber-security obligations for suppliers handling MOD information. It is assured through the Defence Cyber Protection Partnership (DCPP) and its Cyber Security Model — a per-contract risk assessment that assigns a cyber risk profile, with the supplier requirements that follow flowing down the supply chain. Meeting it is a compliance exercise; cyber insurance sits alongside it and does not discharge it.
Export control. Defence and dual-use goods, software and technology are subject to UK strategic export controls administered by the Export Control Joint Unit, and licensing is the supplier’s own responsibility — insurance does not remove it.

None of this is something a broker signs off for you. What we do is read the contract, understand which conditions and standards it calls up, and place cover that meets the limits, jurisdiction and naming the contract requires without cutting across your own compliance.

What defence contracts demand of your insurance

Beyond the covers themselves, an MOD or prime contract usually sets out how the insurance must be written. Four things come up again and again:

Jurisdiction. Defence supply chains are international and often US-facing, so cover may need to be written worldwide including the USA and Canada, where a standard UK policy is frequently written to exclude them — see US-jurisdiction professional indemnity and US-jurisdiction public liability.
Minimum limits. A prime or the MOD sets a minimum limit of indemnity for each cover, and the policy has to meet or exceed it. We set out the limit the contract asks for and place cover to match.
Additional insured and naming. The prime or the authority often asks to be named on the policy or noted as an additional insured; see additional insured and client naming.
Certificates, on time. You usually cannot start work until evidence of cover is with the contracting party; we issue the certificate of insurance to the wording they have set, and can arrange cover at short notice when an award or tender deadline is tight.

A policy that cannot meet the wording fails the contract, however good the price — so the broker who places it needs to read the contract as carefully as the risk.

Why place defence cover through Apex

Apex Insurance Brokers is an independent commercial insurance broker established in 2009 and based in Bristol — in the heart of the South West’s defence and aerospace supply chain, from the Airbus, Rolls-Royce, Leonardo and GKN cluster around Filton to the wider West of England advanced-engineering and defence-technology community. We are owned entirely by our directors and directly authorised by the FCA since 2016. We are not tied to any single insurer, and we have access to over 30 markets, including the Lloyd’s market via wholesale, where defence, products, cyber and US-facing risks are written. Every client has a named broker who understands what an MOD or prime contract actually asks for.

Owned by its directors, not for sale. No consolidator, no private-equity owner, no external shareholders — and we have declined approaches to buy the firm. Read the Apex Independence Charter.
Independent, not tied. No single-insurer scheme, no in-house policy, no placement quotas — the recommendation is the one that fits, not the one we are paid to push.
Over 30 markets, including Lloyd’s. Specialist UK PI insurers and Lloyd’s syndicates via wholesale, so a risk that one underwriter dislikes can still be placed properly with another.
Usually three or four competing quotes, laid out side by side — limit, excess, retroactive date, exclusions and premium — with a plain-language note on the trade-offs.
The stay-put letter. If your existing cover is right, we say so in writing, free and without obligation. How the stay-put letter works.
A named broker all year. The person who places your cover is the person who picks up the phone at renewal, on a mid-term change, or when a letter of claim lands.
Director-level attention on claims. We help you notify circumstances early and in the right form, stay involved once the insurer’s panel solicitors are appointed, and tell you plainly where you stand.
Directly authorised by the FCA since 2016, not an appointed representative trading under someone else’s permissions.

Frequently asked

Do defence suppliers need professional indemnity or products liability?

It depends on what you do. Design, engineering and advisory work needs professional indemnity, where the loss is the cost of correcting a professional mistake. Firms that make or supply equipment and components need products liability. Many established defence businesses do both, and need the two arranged together so nothing falls between them.

Does cyber insurance make us DEFCON 658 compliant?

No. DEFCON 658 and the Cyber Security Model are a compliance obligation — a per-contract risk assessment and the supplier cyber requirements that follow from it, flowed down the supply chain. Cyber insurance helps you respond to and recover from an incident, but it does not carry out the assessment, implement the controls or discharge the contractual duty. The two work together: you meet the obligation, and the insurance sits alongside it.

Our MOD or prime contract requires US jurisdiction and to be named as an additional insured — can you arrange that?

Yes. Defence contracts routinely require worldwide including US jurisdiction and additional-insured naming, and both can be written in the Lloyd’s market via wholesale. Once cover is bound we issue a certificate of insurance naming the party to the wording they have set — see US-jurisdiction professional indemnity and additional insured and client naming.

Can you arrange cover quickly for a contract award or tender deadline?

Often, yes. Where an award or a tender requires evidence of cover at short notice, we can place the programme and issue certificates against a tight deadline — see business insurance at short notice. Tell us the limits, jurisdiction and naming the contract sets and we will work to it.

Bidding for or delivering defence work?

Tell us what you design, make or advise on, and any condition your MOD or prime contract has set — we’ll place it through the Lloyd’s market with the right jurisdiction, limits and certificates. Or call 0117 325 0027.

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Apex Insurance Brokers Limited is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Registered in England and Wales, company number 07014570. This page is general information about defence and defence-technology insurance, not advice on your individual circumstances, and it does not guarantee that cover will be available or on what terms. Insurance complements a supplier’s DEFCON 658 and contractual obligations; it does not discharge them.