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DefTech: Technology Transforming Defence - techUK Report Published
techUK’s Defence Programme has published a report looking at how Defence Technologies (DefTech) will revolutionise how the UK defends itself, but that means a change in how governments think about capabilities.
The report, launched as part of techUK’s 2024 Defence Campaign Week, looks at how technology is shaping defence across all domains including the use of Artificial Intelligence, unmanned autonomous systems, and the exploitation of data.
To fulfill this, what is required is a fundamental shift in approach within the Ministry of Defence as to how it procures capabilities and pulls them through to the end-user. Informed by engagement with members from across the defence industry, officials from the Ministry of Defence and others, the report makes a series of recommendations including:
- Think capabilities not percentages of GDP: debates around defence spending as a proportion of GDP are a distraction from focusing on what capabilities the UK requires to defend itself and its allies.
- Think problems not solutions: when it comes to procuring capabilities – whether new or replacement systems – do not assume to know what the solution looks like. Define the problem and let industry present the answers.
- Mind the Gap: reduce the distance between the innovators and the end-users. Involve service personnel in shaping problem statements and bring in technologists from industry as Technology Officers at a tactical level, to identify where new technologies can increase efficiency and effectiveness in the field.
The report also includes case studies of how techUK members – 2iC, GemaSecure and Arondite – are leading the DefTech revolution.
The conflict in Ukraine has provided the most graphic and costly vision of how future wars are likely to be conducted, demonstrating that victory will be determined not solely by conventional mass, but also the ability to develop, integrate and deploy advanced technologies at speed. The UK needs a strong, dynamic DefTech sector to ensure that it remains at the forefront of innovation, providing solutions to those problems articulated and encountered by MOD, and learning the lessons from how other industries have achieved transformation.
For more information on the Defence Campaign Week, please click here.
Click here for the full press release
Original article link: https://www.techuk.org/resource/deftech-technology-transforming-defence-techuk-report-published.html