tech2035: UK Defence back in the spotlight ahead of Industrial Strategy
UK Defence back in the spotlight
In a word cloud of the Prime Minister and defence team’s statements over the last 10 months, the largest font size would likely be reserved for the words ‘wait for the SDR’.
Announced by the Prime Minister two weeks into office, the Strategic Defence Review has hung over decision-making ever since. Questions on defence technology, armed fighting vehicles, missile defence systems, and Type 32 frigates have all met with a ‘it would be inappropriate comment before the SDR’ response. The delay in publication, giving the wait an almost purdah-like status.
Despite this (and leaving many to wonder what is left for the SDR itself), there have been a flurry of announcements from the Ministry of Defence on policy and structure. As we approach what should be the beginning of the end for reorganisation, it is worth taking stock on where UK Defence currently stands. This analysis provides a summary of all the main announcements relating to UK Defence over the past year.
Strategic Defence Review
On 16 July 2024, the Prime Minister announced that the former Defence Secretary Lord Robertson would lead ‘a root and branch review of UK Defence…to make Britain secure at home and strong abroad for decades to come’. The Strategic Defence Review would identify the threats the UK faces, and the military capabilities needed to counter them, ‘deliverable and affordable within the resources available to Defence within the trajectory to 2.5%’.
Responding to the SDR consultation, techUK members identified three key objectives:
1. Prioritise an explicit focus on digital technologies
2. Recognise the realities of the cyber threat and how it is managed
3. Reform innovation and acquisition to fully harness new tech
Click here to read techUK’s submission in full.
Due in the Spring, publication has been repeatedly delayed, significantly raising expectations in industry on what it will contain. In reality though, as with all such reviews, specific investment in new military capabilities will only become clear through Command Papers produced by the Front-Line Commands (FLCs), setting out how they will deliver their objectives and with what resources. This was broadly confirmed by MOD Permanent Under Secretary David Williams speaking to the Public Accounts Committee in April.
Defence Industrial Strategy
Following the SDR announcement on 02 December 2024 Defence Secretary John Healey then announced the launch of the Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS). The DIS will form the sectoral plan for Defence as it relates to the government’s wider Industrial Strategy, in which Defence is highlighted as one of the 8 high-growth sectors. The DIS will address 6 key themes:
- Prioritising UK businesses
- Creating partnerships
- Providing certainty and stability
- Seizing the future
- Spreading prosperity
- Enhancing the credibility of the UK’s deterrence
In responding to the DIS Statement of Intent techUK’s submission focused on:
- The MOD as an intelligent and reliable customer and partner, understanding what it is buying and why, contracting promptly and paying on time.
- The MOD in partnership with wider government, tackling ‘core-enabler’ challenges such as security clearances.
- Streamlining the innovation ecosystem, with clear delineations of responsibility across Head Office, Commands, and delivery agencies.
The DIS white paper is expected alongside the wider Industrial Strategy review following the Spending Review statement on 11 June.
Defence Industry Joint Council
In the same speech, the Defence Secretary announced the creation of a new Defence Industry Joint Council (DIJC), replacing the Defence Suppliers Forum. The primary Forum for strategic engagement between the MOD and industry, the DSF was criticised for lacking clear purpose and not properly reflecting the wider UK Defence ecosystem. The DJIC is due to meet for the first time in June.
Defence Reform
In February, the Defence Secretary also confirmed major changes to the MOD’s management structure and operating model through a transformation programme called Defence Reform with the changes coming in to force from 01 April.
The MOD’s previous structure dates to the 2011 Levene Reforms, in which disaggregation and decentralisation of budgetary authority were brought in. The rationale at the time of the Levene Reforms was that centrally managed acquisition allowed FLCs to act, in the words of Andrew Curtis, as ‘pressure groups, demanding the highest possible standards…without having to worry about how to pay for it’. The Levene Reforms created the tripartite structure of a central Head Office responsible for policy and strategy, FLCs with delegated budget and acquisition authority, and the arms-length delivery agencies such as Defence Equipment & Support (DE&S).
Defence Reform creates a so-called ‘Quad’ management structure: the Permanent Under Secretary as head of the MOD Civil Service, the Chief of Defence Staff as head of the Military Strategic HQ (MSHQ), the Chief of Defence Nuclear and a new 4* National Armaments Directorate (NAD).
Bringing together Defence’s enabling organisations including Defence Digital, DE&S, Dstl, the Defence Infrastructure Organisation, and the Submarine Delivery Agency, the NAD will be responsible for ‘developing, supporting and delivering the UK’s ‘national arsenal’’. It will set MOD’s industrial strategy and oversee all acquisition processes. The NAD should act as a reality check or counterbalance to the demands of the FLCs, preventing a return to the days of ‘over-complex, over-budget, over time’ programmes.
The existence of a National Armaments Directorate also brings the UK in line with NATO allies such as the Dutch Defence Materiel Organisation and the Directorate General of Armaments in France.
SME Support Hub & Direct SME Spending Target
On 03 March, the Prime Minister announced the creation of ‘a new support hub’ for SMEs to be accompanied by new direct SME spending targets set by June. Officials talk of a direct spending figure that is ‘ambitious but practical’, and meeting this will likely be the key driving force in ensuring the MOD lives up to its promise of opening defence to new and smaller suppliers.
The SME Support Hub will ‘provide guidance to small businesses on accessing the Defence supply chain’. Along with several SME member companies and fellow trade associations techUK is currently working with the MOD to help design the services the SME Support Hub will provide. The Support Hub is expected to reach initial operating capacity by the Autumn.
Defence Spending Uplift and UK Defence Innovation
In the Spring Statement the Chancellor confirmed that Defence spending would reach 2.5% of GDP by April 2027, rising to 3% in the next Parliament. From April this year the MOD will also spend a minimum of 10% of the Defence budget on ‘novel technologies’ which include AI, autonomous systems, and drones.
Also announced in the Spring Statement was UK Defence Innovation (UKDI), a body which will serve as the central authority for consolidating and streamlining existing innovation structures within the Ministry of Defence (MOD). UKDI will have a ringfenced budget of £400m to ‘drive significantly faster innovative procurement’ and ‘actively foster a strong UK defence technology sector’.
Finally, the MOD will also now take a ‘segmented’ 3-tier approach to procurement, with each their own timelines:
- Strategic Long-Term Programmes (Major Platforms & Equipment) within two years
- Pace-setting upgrades from three years to one year (including communications and sensors)
- Rapid commercial innovation (such as software) to contract in three-month cycles
Crucially though, the point at which the clock starts ticking was not defined.
UK-EU Defence & Security Partnership
Internationally, last week the UK and EU signed a new Defence and Security Partnership. The UK can now begin negotiating its participation in the EU’s €150bn loans-for-programme, Security Action for Europe (SAFE), and this should be concluded before the summer.
Spending Review
Key from the June Spending Review will be the confirmed minimum SME direct spending target. Perhaps more than any other change, this will be the most significant force in driving the MOD to match words with action. The figure currently sits around the four percent mark and the Defence Procurement Minister has said the new target will be ‘challenging but achievable’.
Technology Transforming Defence
Beyond policy though, techUK has long argued that what is required is a fundamental shift in culture and attitude towards both technology and risk management. When procuring technologies – whether new or replacement systems – do not assume to know what the solution looks like. Define the problem and let industry present the answers. Secondly, be transparent as to how risk is calculated. Simply being an SME is not a good enough reason not to contract.
For more on techUK’s recommendations for defence, click here.
For more information, please contact:
Jeremy Wimble
Programme Manager, Defence, techUK
Jeremy manages techUK's defence programme, helping the UK's defence technology sector align itself with the Ministry of Defence - including Defence Digital, DE&S, innovation units and Frontline Commands - through a broad range of activities including private briefings and early market engagement events. It also supports the MOD as it procures new digital technologies.
Prior to joining techUK, from 2016-2024 Jeremy was International Security Programme Manager at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) coordinating research and impact activities for funders including the FCDO and US Department of Defense, as well as business development and strategy.
Jeremy has a MA in International Relations from the University of Birmingham and a BA (Hons) in Politics & Social Policy from Swansea University.
- Email:
- [email protected]
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Meet the team
Fred Sugden
Associate Director, Defence and National Security, techUK
Fred is responsible for techUK's activities across the Defence and National Security sectors, working to provide members with access to key stakeholders across the Defence and National Security community. Before taking on the role of Associate Director for Defence and National Security, Fred joined techUK in 2018, working as the Programme Head for Defence at techUK, leading the organisation's engagement with the Ministry of Defence. Before joining techUK, he worked at ADS, the national trade association representing Aerospace, Defence, Security & Space companies in the UK.
Fred is responsible for techUK’s market engagement and policy development activities across the Defence and National Security sectors, working closely with various organisations within the Ministry of Defence, and across the wider National Security and Intelligence community. Fred works closely with many techUK member companies that have an interest in these sectors, and is responsible for the activities of techUK's senior Defence & Security Board. Working closely with techUK's Programme Head for Cyber Security, Fred oversees a broad range of activities for techUK members.
Outside of work, Fred's interests include football (a Watford FC fan) and skiing.
- Email:
- [email protected]
- Phone:
- 07985 234 170
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Francesca Richiusa
Programme Team Assistant for Public Sector Markets, techUK
Fran serves as the Programme Team Assistant within techUK’s Public Sector Market Programmes, where she is responsible for delivering comprehensive team support, managing administrative functions, and fostering strong relationships with members.
Prior to joining techUK in May 2025, Fran built a meaningful career in the charitable and local government sectors. She worked extensively with both victims and perpetrators of crime, and notably led the coordination of Domestic Homicide Reviews across Surrey—an initiative aimed at identifying lessons and preventing future incidents of domestic abuse.
Outside of work, Fran is an avid traveller and a proud cat mum who enjoys unwinding with her feline companions.
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- [email protected]
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- www.techuk.org/
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/francesca-richiusa/
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Jeremy Wimble
Programme Manager, Defence, techUK
Jeremy manages techUK's defence programme, helping the UK's defence technology sector align itself with the Ministry of Defence - including Defence Digital, DE&S, innovation units and Frontline Commands - through a broad range of activities including private briefings and early market engagement events. It also supports the MOD as it procures new digital technologies.
Prior to joining techUK, from 2016-2024 Jeremy was International Security Programme Manager at the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) coordinating research and impact activities for funders including the FCDO and US Department of Defense, as well as business development and strategy.
Jeremy has a MA in International Relations from the University of Birmingham and a BA (Hons) in Politics & Social Policy from Swansea University.
- Email:
- [email protected]
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Tracy Modha
Programme Marketing Assistant for Public Sector Markets, techUK
Tracy supports the marketing of several areas at techUK, including Cyber Exchange, Central Government, Cyber Resilience, Defence, Education, Health and Social Care, Justice and Emergency Services, Local Public Services, Nations and Regions and National Security.
Tracy joined techUK in March 2022, having worked in the education sector for 19 years, covering administration, research project support, IT support and event/training support. My most outstanding achievement has been running three very successful international conferences and over 300 training courses booked all over the globe!
Tracy has a great interest in tech. Gaming and computing have been a big part of her life, and now electric cars are an exciting look at the future. She has warmed to Alexa, even though it can sometimes be sassy!
- Email:
- [email protected]
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- 02073312000
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- www.techuk.org
- LinkedIn:
- https://www.linkedin.com/in/tracymodha83
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