Willis, the broking business of WTW, has launched a global defence and security initiative, bringing together specialists across regions and business lines to serve defence contractors, suppliers and security firms.
The initiative gives clients a single route into Willis’s risk transfer, risk advisory and analytics, cyber, crisis management, claims, risk engineering, operational resilience, workforce risk, and capital and transaction advisory services across 140 countries. It is led by Jennifer Caldarella, Willis’s global defence lead.
Caldarella said the defence and security sector was entering one of the most significant investment cycles in its history, but that investment alone does not create capability.
Global military spending reached a record $2.9 trillion in 2025, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). Willis said it could approach US$4.7 trillion to US$6.6 trillion by 2035, and that the world’s 100 largest arms producers earned a record US$679 billion in 2024.
Willis warned that money does not automatically translate into capability. Contractors face cyber, supply chain, regulatory, contracting and operational risks that can delay or derail delivery, often with limited insurance capacity. Drones, autonomous maritime systems and AI-enabled technology are also reshaping the sector, bringing in new technology-led companies with exposures that traditional risk management was not built for.
The launch comes as Australia makes one of the largest peacetime defence commitments in its history. The government’s 2026 National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program, released in April, allocates A$425 billion over the decade to capability. That includes an additional A$14 billion over the next four years and A$53 billion over the decade. Defence spending is set to rise to 3% of GDP by 2033, under the NATO measure.
Much of that money is going into maritime capability. Up to A$130 billion has been earmarked for undersea warfare over the decade, most of it for AUKUS nuclear-powered submarines, along with new frigates, long-range strike and drones.
For Australian commercial brokers, the build-up creates both opportunity and complexity. AUKUS and the wider investment program will draw manufacturers, engineering firms and technology companies into defence supply chains, many for the first time, particularly in shipbuilding hubs in South Australia and Western Australia.
Those businesses will face contractual insurance requirements, higher limits, security and cyber standards, and new liability exposures. Products liability, professional indemnity, cyber, marine and transit, and contract works cover are all likely to see more demand, along with surety and bonding for larger contracts.
Mid-sized brokers with manufacturing and technology clients will need to understand defence contract requirements to keep those clients as they move into the sector, rather than losing them to global brokers building dedicated defence teams.
