Military Audit: Aviva plc (LSE: AV.)

Audit Phase: Military (Military Forensics) Audit Date: 2026-06-14 Subject: Aviva plc - UK insurance underwriting, asset management (Aviva Investors), and related UK-registered subsidiaries

Direct Defence Contracting & Procurement

No public evidence identified of any direct contract between Aviva plc and the Israeli Ministry of Defense, the Israel Defense Forces, the Israel Prison Service, or the Israel Border Police. Aviva is an insurance underwriting and asset-management group and does not manufacture, supply, or integrate physical defence equipment.

No public evidence identified that Aviva appears in SIBAT (Israel’s Foreign Defense Assistance and Defense Export Organization) directories, Israeli defence-exhibition catalogues, or defence-procurement registries as a contractor, vendor, or approved supplier to Israeli state-security bodies.¹

No public evidence identified of corporate press releases, government announcements, joint ventures, or memoranda of understanding between Aviva and any Israeli or international defence entity constituting a formal procurement or contracting relationship.

Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants

Aviva does not manufacture physical products. Its lines are insurance underwriting (life, general, health) and asset management through Aviva Investors. No public evidence identified of any militarised, ruggedised, tactical, or mil-spec product variant within Aviva’s offering.

Employers’ Liability Insurance for UAV Engines Ltd

The substantively documented finding in this domain is Aviva’s provision of employers’ liability (EL) insurance to UAV Engines Ltd (UEL), a UK-registered company located at Lynn Lane, Shenstone, Lichfield, Staffordshire (Companies House number 02691211; incorporated 27 February 1992; SIC 32990 “other manufacturing not elsewhere classified”; status active).² UAV Engines Ltd is a subsidiary of Elbit Systems (described in reporting as Israel’s largest weapons manufacturer).³⁴

UAV Engines Ltd designs and manufactures Wankel-type rotary engines for unmanned aerial vehicles. Its AR801 single-rotor rotary engine (294cc, rated up to 60 bhp) is marketed by the company for “existing and future drones and UAVs.”⁵ Open-source defence reporting and the Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT) identify UEL engines - including the R902(W) Wankel - as powering the Elbit Hermes 450 UAV; CAAT records that a UK-made R902(W) “may have produced” the engine of the Hermes 450 drone linked to the killing of British and other aid workers in Gaza in April 2024.⁴ AFSC Investigate documents that Elbit supplies armed and unarmed Hermes 450 and Hermes 900 UAVs to the Israeli military, which form the majority of Israel’s large-drone fleet and have been used in Gaza, the West Bank, and Lebanon.⁶

Employers’ liability insurance is a statutory requirement for UK employers. Palestine Action and reporting on the campaign characterise the EL policy as the legally required cover without which the factory could not operate in Britain.³⁷ Aviva’s provision of EL insurance to UEL is documented by the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre and by trade and mainstream reporting.³⁷⁸

Policy Termination (2025)

Aviva’s employers’ liability insurance coverage of UAV Engines Ltd ended on 7 September 2025.⁸ Reporting states UAV Engines Ltd was subsequently insured by Chubb.⁸ Reporting framed the non-renewal as following a sustained direct-action campaign; Aviva declined to comment.⁸

Export Control Considerations

No public evidence identified of export-licence applications, end-user certificates, or export-control reviews naming Aviva in connection with Israeli defence or security end-users. UK export-licence scrutiny relating to UEL-manufactured engines has been directed at the exporter, not at Aviva as an insurer.⁴

Heavy Machinery, Construction & Infrastructure

No public evidence identified of Aviva manufacturing, selling, leasing, or operating heavy machinery, construction equipment, or vehicles. No public evidence identified of any contract by Aviva for construction, maintenance, or servicing of military or security infrastructure.

Supply Chain Integration with Defence Primes

No public evidence identified of Aviva directly supplying components, sub-systems, raw materials, or manufacturing services to any Israeli defence prime or global defence prime. Aviva is not a manufacturing entity.

Aviva Investors - Equity Holdings (Investment Exposure, Not Direct Supply)

The following relates to investment holdings by Aviva Investors, not to manufacture, component supply, or contracting.

A campaign report associated with the Boycott Bloody Insurance campaign and the Institute for Palestine Studies states that insurers - including Allianz, Aviva, AXA, Zurich, and RSA - have collectively invested over $1.7 billion in companies supplying military equipment used by Israel since 7 October 2023, naming Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Elbit Systems, and BAE Systems among those companies.⁹¹⁰ The same campaign material describes Aviva as the largest such investor, with over $880 million invested in arms manufacturers including BAE Systems, Boeing, and Caterpillar, and states that Allianz and Aviva are the only insurers investing in Elbit Systems.⁹¹⁰ These are characterised as investment/portfolio holdings rather than direct supply contracts; the underlying methodology is not set out in the cited summaries.

No public evidence identified of any joint development programme, co-production agreement, technology transfer, or licensed manufacturing arrangement between Aviva and any Israeli or international defence firm.

Logistical Sustainment & Base Services

No public evidence identified of Aviva providing catering, transport, fuel supply, waste management, facilities management, or any other logistical support service to IDF bases, military training facilities, naval installations, or detention centres operated by Israeli security agencies.

No public evidence identified of any Aviva subsidiary operating in the shipping, freight, or port-services sectors in support of military activity.

Munitions, Weapons Systems & Strategic Platforms

No public evidence identified of Aviva plc manufacturing, assembling, integrating, testing, supplying, or maintaining any lethal system, munitions, ordnance, explosives, propellant, warhead, armoured vehicle, naval vessel, fighter aircraft, unmanned combat aerial vehicle, missile-defence system, or other weapons platform.

No public evidence identified of Aviva supplying precursor materials, energetic compounds, or restricted chemicals relevant to munitions production.

No public evidence identified of Aviva participating, in any direct manufacturing or integration capacity, in missile-defence systems, ballistic-missile programmes, main-battle-tank programmes, or nuclear-capable delivery systems.

The connection between Aviva and the Hermes 450 drone programme operates via the provision of employers’ liability insurance to UAV Engines Ltd, the UK-registered engine manufacturer, and is documented under Dual-Use Products & Tactical Variants. It does not, on the evidence reviewed, constitute direct weapons-system manufacture, component supply, or platform integration by Aviva.

Export Licensing, Regulatory & Legal History

No public evidence identified of UK government export-licence decisions naming Aviva plc or any Aviva subsidiary as an applicant, consignee, or responsible party in connection with Israeli military or security end-users. Insurance underwriting is not itself subject to UK strategic-export licensing.¹

No public evidence identified of investigations, citations, regulatory findings, or enforcement actions against Aviva related to arms embargoes, export controls, financial sanctions, or trade restrictions connected to the defence sector or to Israeli entities subject to asset-freeze or licensing regimes.

In 2025, Aviva announced it would pursue legal action against Palestine Action following direct action at its Manchester office, stating it would “not tolerate any criminal behaviour towards our people or property and will take appropriate legal action”; reporting identified Aviva as the second insurer (after Allianz) to announce legal action against the group.¹¹¹² No public evidence identified of civil or criminal proceedings brought against Aviva itself in connection with its insurance of UAV Engines Ltd.

Civil Society Scrutiny & Documented Investigations

NGO Reports and Research Databases

Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC): BHRRC documented the direct-action campaign against Aviva’s offices and the insurance relationship between Aviva and UAV Engines Ltd / Elbit Systems.³

Campaign Against Arms Trade (CAAT): CAAT’s company profile identifies UAV Engines Ltd as an Elbit subsidiary producing drone engines and links a UK-made R902(W) Wankel engine to the Hermes 450 drone associated with the April 2024 aid-worker killings in Gaza.⁴

AFSC Investigate: AFSC documents Elbit Systems’ production of Hermes 450/900 UAVs and other systems supplied to the Israeli military.⁶

Boycott Bloody Insurance / Institute for Palestine Studies: A 2025 campaign report names Aviva among insurers investing in companies arming Israel, attributing to Aviva over $880 million in such holdings and stating Aviva and Allianz are the only insurers investing in Elbit Systems.⁹¹⁰ Boycott Bloody Insurance activists also disrupted Aviva’s AGM in 2026 in protest at its underwriting and investment ties, including Elbit Systems.¹³

“Don’t Buy Into Occupation” (DBIO) report series: The DBIO coalition reports document European financial institutions’ holdings in companies linked to Israeli settlements and name Elbit Systems and Israeli banks among the 50 companies covered; the coverage reviewed for this audit names other UK institutions (e.g. Legal & General, HSBC, Barclays) but does not name Aviva or Aviva Investors.¹⁴

Direct Action Campaign - Documented Events

Palestine Action conducted a sustained, targeted campaign focused on Aviva’s role as EL insurer for UAV Engines Ltd. Documented events include:

• 22 January 2025: Occupation of Aviva’s Bristol office at Brierly Furlong; Aviva said colleague safety was paramount and the site remained open.⁷¹⁵
• 28 February 2025: Actions at Aviva offices in Perth and Motherwell, Scotland, involving red paint and broken windows; Aviva acknowledged disruption and prioritised staff safety.³¹⁶
• 11 March 2025: Occupation of the entrance to Aviva’s Manchester office at The Observatory, Chapel Walks.¹¹¹²

Reporting also records that both Allianz and Aviva sought to pursue legal action / injunctions against Palestine Action over the protests.¹¹¹⁷

Aviva’s Corporate Response and Policy Framework

During the campaign, Aviva’s public statements emphasised staff safety and, in later reporting on the policy termination, declined to comment on the client relationship.⁷⁸¹⁶

Aviva has a long-standing public position excluding cluster munitions and anti-personnel mines: in 2008 the Aviva Board decided the group should not hold securities of companies involved in the manufacture of cluster munitions or anti-personnel mines in its shareholder funds.¹⁸ Campaign and trade reporting note tension between this stance and continued Aviva exposure to Elbit, whose subsidiary IMI Systems has a documented cluster-munitions history.¹⁸¹⁹ No public Aviva statement was identified attributing the 7 September 2025 UEL policy non-renewal to a deliberate policy decision.⁸

Ethical Consumer: Ethical Consumer has covered Aviva in its money and insurance guides; specific Aviva ratings were not independently re-verified in this audit session and are not reproduced here.

End Notes