UK Defence Secretary John Healey has launched what is being billed as the “biggest reform of the Ministry of Defence (MoD) in over 50 years to fix what the Public Accounts Committee calls the ‘broken’ defence procurement system and to strengthen UK Defence”, the MoD announced on 25 October 2024.
The move comes amid increasing global threats, with growing Russian aggression and conflict in the Middle East, which the MoD stated “requires increased resilience and warfighting readiness”.
The aims of the initiative are to create a stronger UK defence sector that is able to secure better value for money, better outcomes for the UK’s armed forces and to better implement the UK’s Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which will be published in the first half of 2025.
A central feature of the initiative is the creation of a new role in the form of a UK National Armaments Director, whose role will be to ensure the armed forces are properly equipped to defend the UK, to build up the UK defence industry and to “crack down on waste”. The recruitment process for the role has already begun, with a search for candidates now underway that will continue over the coming weeks.
The new National Armaments Director (NAD) will be responsible for:
- delivering the capabilities required from industry to execute defence plans and operations demanded by the new military-geopolitical environment;
- shaping and delivering the UK’s defence-industrial strategy, which is soon to be launched;
- ensuring a resilient supply chain and the required readiness of the national ‘arsenal’;
- leading on UK defence exports and acquisition reform;
- and harmonising procurement, working closely with wider government, industry, academia and international partners to deploy best practice and investment.
The reforms will also see the Chief of the Defence Staff overseeing a new Military Strategic Headquarters (MSHQ), where for the first time he will formally command the individual service chiefs, who will now be central to investment decisions between the services, along with the UK defence secretary and permanent secretary.
The Labour government’s MoD reforms “will ensure faster delivery and clearer accountability across Defence, to support the government’s ‘One Defence’ drive”, the MoD stated. They will also ensure defence is ready to take forward recommendations of the Strategic Defence Review, with the new MSHQ fully functioning by the end of 2024, ready to implement recommendations from the SDR in the first half of next year.
“Our government is delivering the change we promised: cracking down on waste and boosting Britain’s defence industry,” Healey was quoted as stating by the MoD. “We will forge ‘One Defence’, which is clear in its goals and consistent in its methods, to make Britain secure at home and strong abroad.
“The world is more dangerous, with growing Russian aggression, conflict in the Middle East and increasing global threats,” Healey noted, adding, “These vital reforms will make UK military decision making faster, keep the country safer and achieve best value for taxpayers. This government will strengthen UK Defence to respond to increasing threats.”
The CEO of the MoD’s Defence Equipment & Support organisation, Andy Start, who occupies the current NAD position, stated, “This fully fledged NAD role is a vitally important step towards transforming defence acquisition and the industrial base in the UK,” adding that the new role “will have the levers needed to ensure our armed forces have the right kit and to deliver the defence-industrial strategy we need for growth”.
Start also said that the MoD “will work with industrial partners to embrace the ‘One Defence’ approach so they can play their part in improvements that underpin national security and prosperity”.
The programme of reform will be informed by lessons from the department’s support to Ukraine in stemming the Russian invasion of that country.
“The National Audit Office recently highlighted the speed and scale of the MoD’s Operation ‘Interflex’ training programme for Ukrainian recruits, as well as fast-tracked procurement and distribution of essential gifted equipment to the Ukrainian front line,” the MoD stated.
The reforms are ultimately designed to “radically simplify the MoD”, the ministry asserted, stated that “Governance and processes will be streamlined, with innovation in technology and an improved approach to data underpinning everything the department does.”
