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The export potential of new equipment will become crucial in considering whether to buy kit for the British armed forces in a move to correct the country’s disastrous defense procurement record, according to the minister in charge of the shake-up.
James Cartlidge said the prospects of overseas sales will carry greater weight when the Ministry of Defense assesses tenders for new weapons and kit as part of a series of reforms that come into force from Monday.
The defense procurement minister said the move was designed to avoid the problems inherent in what he called “sweet spot procurement,” where extra capabilities are added during the development process resulting in delays and cost overruns.
The overhaul, first announced in February, is the latest attempt by successive governments to fix a system that has been criticized for wasting billions of taxpayers’ money on equipment delivered late and over budget.
The reforms are partly a response to the most recent high-profile failure – the £5.5 billion Ajax armored vehicle program – and a subsequent review which found several systemic problems at the Ministry of Defence.
Ministers and officials “will relate military requirements not just to the needs of the UK but will evaluate them against a potential global market,” Cartlidge told the Financial Times.
“In my opinion, this almost acts as a check and balance against overly exquisite procurement, [in other words when] so many requirements are put in that it ends up taking years. He added that the reforms might “not guarantee against a new Ajax but they will make it less likely”.
An independent report into the troubled Ajax programme, published last year, made a damning indictment of the British armed forces’ procurement process.
The contract signed in 2014 called for the supply of a family of state-of-the-art armored vehicles to the army, starting three years later, to replace those designed in the 1960s.
The vehicles were plagued by noise and vibration problems that caused hearing damage to some crews involved in the tests. The problems were eventually resolved, according to the Defense Ministry, but the Army will now have to wait until 2029 to have all 589 vehicles fully operational.
Cartlidge said one of the first programs the reforms will apply to is a delayed competition to build a new medium-sized transport helicopter for the Army and Air Force, which will place “much greater weight on exportability.”
He said bidders should commit to carrying out the design work in the UK. There are three consortia in the running led by Airbus, Leonardo and Lockheed Martin.
“It is important to have a sovereign Rotary [aircraft] workforce and skills base. To support this, we don’t just want to have the UK order, but the UK needs to export too,” Cartlidge added.
Other reforms to the procurement process will include the use of “spiral development” designed to allow troops to begin using the kit first at around 80% capacity, which would then be built while in service.
Cartlidge said another change would be to ensure ministers can get a “second opinion” on big programs “so they can properly kick the tires”.
He said Britain needs a procurement system that is “much more agile, faster and more defence-integrated” if it is to be able to compete with adversaries, some of whom are “procuring at a rapid pace and on a large scale.” ”.
The conflict in Ukraine demonstrated “the importance of pace” in procurement, he added.
Conservative MP and former armed forces minister Mark Francois, who has been highly critical of the procurement process, welcomed the changes but warned: “The proof of the pudding will still be in the eating.”
The reforms come at a time of growing concern about the state of the UK’s armed forces and calls for the Government to increase defense spending in the face of the growing threat from Russia and China.