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The House of Commons Defence Committee yesterday published its report: ‘Beyond 2 per cent: A preliminary report on the Modernising Defence Programme’.

Ahead of the headline conclusions from the Modernising Defence Programme (MDP) review, which are expected before the NATO summit in July, the preliminary report makes a number of observations which the Defence Committee expects to be explored as part of the review. These include:

• Military Capabilities & Force Structures
• Recruitment & Retention
• International Partnerships
• Business & Commercial Practices
• The UK’s expenditure on Defence

Prior to the publication of the report, techUK submitted written evidence to the Defence Committee on behalf of members, a summary of which you can read here.

techUK is pleased to see the inclusion of chapters examining Cyber & Electronic Warfare, Information Advantage & Space within report, and has summarised the report’s conclusions & recommendations for each as follows:

Cyber & Electronic Warfare

1. The MOD’s Cyber Vulnerability Investigations programme should be more focused on neutralising risks, as presently the focus is on identifying them
2. There should be greater investment in Electronic Warfare (EW) capabilities to enable the UK to defend itself against more sophisticated threats

Space

1. The emergence of new threats in the space domain such as the development of anti-satellite missile technology must be reflected in the next generation of capabilities, including the design of the Skynet 6 military communications satellite
2. The development and utilisation of low-cost microsatellites, such as the recently launched Carbonite-2, should also continue to be pursued

Information Advantage

1. The challenge for the UK’s Armed Forces is to further integrate the principles and capabilities associated with information advantage into existing force structures
2. Development of these principles and capabilities should continue, with close co-operation between the Services and other parts of Government involved in information collection and assessment
3. The introduction of platforms with advanced sensory systems such as the AJAX armoured vehicle and F35 mean that the necessary infrastructure will have to be in place to securely transfer, process and analyse large quantities of data that these platforms will collect

techUK welcomes the findings of the Defence Committee report, and looks forward to the MOD’s formal response.

You can read the full report by clicking here.