Airbus fined record £6.4m by HMRC for strategic export control breaches

HMRC fined Airbus's UK division £6.4 million for breaches of strategic export controls — the largest out-of-court settlement ever for such offences. The breaches, occurring before November 2022, involved failures to maintain records across multiple export licences for controlled military technology. Airbus self-reported and cooperated fully. HMRC said it "will not hesitate to take action on military goods export controls."