Capabilities are often delivered years after their forecast delivery date (Image: Getty)
are waiting years for vital kit that allows them to do their job and protect the nation, it has been claimed. The has been besieged by procurement disasters in recent years, with projects such as the Ajax armoured fighting vehicle taking twice as long as expected to come into service at a cost of billions.
More recently, the growing threat of , the potential fracturing of the UK’s relationship with the US and the prospect of deployment to eastern Europe has highlighted the importance of ensuring that are not left short of vital kit. The Chief Operating Officer of one of Britain’s leading manufactures told the Daily Express: “The process of moving from requirement to a capability in the hands of a soldier is too long – it can be twice as long as it needs to be.” A 2020 report by the National Audit Office found that on average, “significant capabilities” are delayed by 26 months.
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The project to introduce Ajax into service was years late and billions of pounds over budget (Image: Getty)
Anonymous sources within Army Headquarters who work in procurement have told the Daily Express that although improvements have been made since the invasion of , that figure is likely to be more than 18 months.
The government have set out plans to overhaul the approach to procurement in order to lessen the time it takes to bring concepts into reality and to ensure that the country gets value for money as defence budget gets set to rise.
Jack Cadman a former officer who now works for Beretta Defence Technologies believes that a focus on “cost effective lethality” is vital if the is to procure the capabilities it needs at a time of economic stagflation.
He said: “We fundamentally believe in cost-effective lethality – providing the highest quality equipment for soldiers, sailors and airmen at a cost that works with the Ministry of Defence.
“We have a situation in the UK where we continue the use of an outdated rifle platform with soldiers in the front line.
“The Government needs to look at providing modern solutions to the dismounted soldier question – providing our troops with the right tools to deal with the evolving battlefield rather than sticking plaster solutions that put our troops in harms-way.”
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The war in Ukraine has demonstrated the effectiveness of low-cost drones on the battlefield (Image: Getty)
MP David Reed agrees but believes that the UK needs to increase defence spending now to ensure that troops have world class kit to match their professional ability.
He said: “The world is changing rapidly before our eyes, and we need to gear up our defences now to contend with this new environment.
“Although we have some of the best trained armed forces in the world, it’s time to significantly expand their numbers and the kit, equipment and capabilities that they use to keep us safe.
“For many decades we have not had the threat of state-on-state conflict and as a result it’s been challenging to do long-term procurement in the MOD. As the adage goes- necessity is the mother of all invention.”
Reed, a former , believes that the UK should embrace a burgeoning sector of small and medium sized enterprises who can provide low-quality, high-volume pieces of equipment more suited to conventional warfare.
He added: “We need to make it far easier for innovative small and medium sized companies (SME) to deliver for our defence. Currently, the process that SMEs must go through to engage with defence is long and clunky, and many of them give up and find business elsewhere.
“We need the best tech and manufacturing companies to see defence as a reliable partner if we really want to scale our defence procurement.”