Aster production after the wars-of-choice assumption

How should Britain view plans to raise annual Aster missile production after years of very low output?

The increase is necessary, but it is late recovery from decades without adequate stockpiles and cannot rebuild industrial depth overnight.

The cited production rate begins from a low base but is expected to rise toward roughly the number of cells in the six-ship Type 45 fleet. Annual production at that level would still not provide the stockpile that should already have accumulated. Britain should have accumulated missiles over many years rather than waiting for a crisis to reveal the gap. The post-Cold War assumption that future conflicts would be discretionary encouraged governments to sell equipment and reduce factories because they expected to choose when and how to fight. Reversing three decades of industrial practice takes years, even after money and urgency return.