UK Unveils Draft Defence Industrial Strategy

UK MoD

In the fall 2005, Britain’s new Minister for Defence Procurement Lord Drayson’s said he intended to unveil a national defense industrial strategy draft by Christmas 2005. Said White Paper is now available: Defence Industrial Strategy: Defence White Paper, December 2005.

More Background Information

• UK MoD Defence Issues – Defence Industrial Strategy (DIS). A good one-stop page for relevant links, speeches, et. al.

• DID FOCUS Article – Britain’s Future Contracting for Availability Approach.

• Defense-Aerospace.com offers excerpts focused by sub-sector of the UK defence industry.

Communication, Reactions, Analysis & Follow-ups

• Defence Management (Feb 12/10) – Lord Drayson’s reform agenda. After returning from his racing career, the minister is back at work…

• DID (Nov 7/07) – Race for the Door: Drayson Resigns from UK MoD. With maybe the most original reason for doing so ever seen. He would return to the Cabinet in 2009 and take up the industrial strategy issue again – after announcing his comeback via Twitter, during a pit stop at Le Mans.

• DID (Jan 2/07) – UK, France Cooperating on Missile Research. Missiles are one sector where the DIS has had a lot of impact; Raytheon is left out, and an MBDA-led team will be Britain’s sole-source missile supplier.

• DID (July 19/07) – 2007: Britain’s NAO Reviews RAF’s New Maintenance Approach. The collaborative approach with corrected incentives seems to be working.

• UK MoD (July 19/07) – Defence Industrial Strategy – Six months on

• UK Parliamentary Defence Committee (Feb 15/07) – The Defence Committee published its Sixth Report of Session 2006-07, The Defence Industrial Strategy: update, HC 177 [PDF format]

• DID (Jan 8/07) – A Year In the Life: The UK’s Defense Logistics Agency. The DLA merged with the DPA in 2006, one of many changes driven by Britain’s Defence Industrial Strategy.

• Centre for Defence Economics, University of York (2006) – The Defence Industrial Strategy: An Economists View by Professor Keith Hartley [PDF]

• DID (Oct 24/06) – UK Unveils Defence Technology Strategy. The UK spends nearly GBP 2.6 billion (about $5 billion) annually on R&D.

• Battlesight Magazine (July/August 2006) – The Lights Go Out For The British Defence Industry. Notes Lord Drayson’s annoyance that some companies in the industry have not fully embraced the strategy in every detail, and predicts confrontations. They also note some arguments against the approach as it is being executed, including concerns re: the proliferation of single-supplier situations for future equipment, and concerns re: the strategy’s shrinkage of the British industrial base in key areas like missiles.

• DID (July 13/06) – UK MoD Issues Report on Through-Life Equipment Management. Includes a review of the gaps that current exist with respect to this key plank of the Defence Industrial Strategy, and makes several recommendations including merger of the Defence Procurement Agency and Defence Logistics Organization. This testimony by Defence Secretary Des Browne on July 11, 2006, indicates that the merger may result in a cut of 10,000 jobs, and that a merged organization is scheduled to be up and running in an initial, “not stable” form by April 1, 2007, with “more work to do to get the full benefit out of the merger as we go through” (see about 2/3 of the way down).

• UK Parliamentary Defence Committee (June 27/06) – Testimony Of Dr Iain Watson, Dr Andrew Tyler, Mr Jonathan Lyle And Lieutenant General Andrew Figgures. Includes material related to SMART Acquisition, the Defense Industrial Strategy, the place of SME (small-medium enterprises) within it, and a number of specific projects.

• UK MoD News Release (Dec 15/05) – Reid unveils radical overhaul of UK Defence Industry

• Defense-Aerospace.com compiles some press releases re: industry response, which is generally positive. On the other hand, press releases rubbishing the new policy could be seen as an unwise marketing move for major defence contractors.

• UK Parliamentary Defence Committee (Dec 15/05) – Defence Committee inquiry into the Defence Industrial Strategy. “Given its importance, the Defence Committee intends to examine the Defence Industrial Strategy early in the new year… But there are some gaps in the paper, which the Committee will want to explore.”

Tag: UKDIS