WIREDGOV

A British government document that Whitehall clearly did not want to highlight is worth reading

The Ministry of Defence launched its Industry for Defence and a Prosperous Britain in the dead days before Christmas, apparently hoping it would have little impact. Indeed, the media coverage was minimal.

The three strands of the declared policy are:

• Improving the way defence delivers wider economic and international value, and national security objectives.
• Helping UK industry to be internationally competitive, innovative and secure.
• Making it easier for innovative companies, small firms and new defence suppliers to do business with the department.

At first glance, this appears to be nothing new, especially as support for UK defence exports and the encouragement of SMEs to contribute to defence are established elements of Britain’s stance.

The ‘commitment to open competition’ which Secretary of State Gavin Williamson emphasised in his introduction is also not novel. A readiness to work with industry through the Defence Growth Partnership, the Defence Solutions Centre and the Defence Suppliers Forum can also be interpreted as business-as-usual.

The document also asserts the continuing validity of the National Security Through Technology paper of 2012. However, as part of the MoD’s emphasis on ‘international by design’, there is slightly greater weight behind the search for collaborative partners.

However, the centrality of industry is recognised from the start:

Working with the Armed Forces and civilians in defence, industry is at the core of the United Kingdom’s defence effort in meeting National Security objectives.

Moreover, there is also a very cautious readiness to recognise the strategic value of the UK defence industrial sector in terms of freedom of action and the resilience and sustainability of national military capability, which implies a government need to nurture private sector supply chains in important areas.

The executive summary illuminates this point, stressing increased focus on ‘industrial requirements across all aspects of capability for operational advantage and freedom of action, with a more systematic approach for strengthening the way we protect and monitor them in the supply chain’.

Click here for full press release