What the Spring Statement means for Defence
With a ringfenced budget of £400m, UK Defence Innovation (UKDI) will:
- Drive significantly faster innovative procurement
- Actively foster a strong UK defence technology sector
- Unlock the full potential of defence spending for wider economic spillovers
The Hub will be operational by July 2025.
Also announced:
The MOD will ‘significantly’ increase what it spends on novel technologies, including dual-use, AI capabilities, and autonomous systems – with a minimum spending target of 10 percent per annum, starting from April this year.
On procurement reform, the MOD will take a ‘segmented’ approach, with each segment having their own timelines:
- Major platforms (including tanks and aircraft) to contract within two years
- Pace-setting upgrades (including comms and sensors) to contract within one year
- Rapid commercial exploitation (including software) to contract in three-month cycles
Finally, as the new Defence Reform model comes into operation from 1 April this year, the Chancellor and Defence Secretary will co-chair a new Defence Growth Board to increase economic growth by boosting Research and Development in advanced technologies, such as Directed Energy Weapons.
techUK’s has long called for a single point of authority within the defence enterprise, to collate innovation intelligence to ensure that proved technologies achieve pull-through to the end-user, while reducing duplication and closing the tech ‘valley of death’. Read more in our Strategic Defence Review submission here.
For techUK's full readout of the Spring Statement, please click here.
Jeremy Wimble
Jeremy manages techUK's defence programme, helping the UK's defence technology sector align itself with the Ministry of Defence - including Defence Digital, DE&S, innovation units and Frontline Commands - through a broad range of activities including private briefings and early market engagement events. It also supports the MOD as it procures new digital technologies.