The UK Ministry of Defence (MoD) formally established the UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) organisation on 1 July 2025 as the focal point for innovation within the ministry.
The organisation will develop over the next 12 months, with further design, transition and implementation work, while determining the optimal workforce structure needed to achieve its long-term ambitions. UKDI is intended to be fully operational by July 2026.
According to the MoD, UKDI will be “backed by a ringfenced annual budget of at least GBP 400 million (EUR 465 million) – supporting the government’s Plan for Change by driving defence as an engine for UK growth and creating high-skilled jobs in the dual-use technology sector”.
The move follows the UK government committing to the country’s largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War by vowing to reach 2.6% of GDP by 2027, with an ambition to reach 3% of GDP in the next Parliament.
UKDI is intended to simplify and streamline the innovation system within the UK MoD – as outlined in the UK Strategic Defence Review (SDR), which was published on 2 June 2025. “It will take a new approach by moving quickly and decisively, using different ways of contracting, to enable UK companies to scale up innovative prototypes rapidly, by setting out a clear pathway, working with the rest of government, from initial production to manufacturing at scale,” the MoD stated.
“UKDI will make the UK a defence innovation leader, funding and supporting firms of all sizes to take state-of-the-art technology from the drawing board to the production line, and into the hands of our armed forces. It will ensure cutting-edge innovations get into the hands of our armed forces faster, enhancing military capability while driving economic growth,” the ministry added.
As part of UKDI’s launch, two key initiatives have been established:
- a new Rapid Innovation Team (RIT) enabling innovation at ‘wartime pace’ by utilising commercially available dual-use technology to address the most urgent operational problems;
- Regional Engagement Teams across the UK to identify and support dual-use innovation from small/medium enterprises and academic spin-outs, delivering targeted outreach and business development support.
UK Defence Secretary John Healey was quoted as saying of the development, “Defence is only as strong as the industry that stands behind it and through UKDI we’re putting innovation at the heart of our approach. This shift represents a crucial part of our commitment to change defence, backing the high-growth UK firms developing pioneering technology of the future to boost our national security and make defence an engine for growth – fundamental to our Plan for Change and delivering on the SDR.”
Meanwhile, the UK MoD also announced on 1 July that UK Strategic Command is being renamed as the Cyber & Specialist Operations Command (CSOC) from 1 September 2025. The change reflects the command’s evolved role and enhanced responsibilities following the SDR, particularly its leadership of the cyber domain, which the SDR demanded a greater focus on across defence and government as a whole. It also comes in the wake of the MoD having to protect UK military networks against more than 90,000 ‘sub-threshold’ attacks in the last two years, the MoD noted.
The new name thus firmly places leadership of the crucial cyber domain for defence and the armed forces with the new command and also better represents CSOC’s ‘lead command’ responsibilities for specialist capabilities critical to operational success, including intelligence, special forces, deployed medical capabilities, and command and control through the Permanent Joint Headquarters (PJHQ).
General Sir Jim Hockenhull, commander of the soon-to-be-renamed UK Strategic Command, was quoted by the MoD as saying, “The transition to Cyber & Specialist Operations Command is far more than a change in name; it is a clear statement of purpose. It reflects our leadership in the cyber domain, the integration of specialist capabilities, and our commitment to delivering effects across Defence. This new identity captures the essence of who we are: a community of experts, united by mission, operating at the forefront of modern warfare.”
