The UK’S new defence procurement strategy will make us safer and be the envy of the world

Dragonfire will help our Armed Forces engage aerial targets at the speed of light, for just £10 a shot

The Royal Navy recently shot down a hostile threat for the first time since the first Gulf War. On Dec 15 2023, in a matter of minutes, highly trained members of HMS Diamond’s 200-strong company identified an aerial threat. They assessed it, selecting and preparing a Sea Viper missile, then calculated firing variables, sought and received authorisation, before launching and guiding the missile. It intercepted the target. It was a Houthi attack drone.

I salute the professionalism and commitment of Royal Navy personnel working to restore security to the Red Sea as part of Operation Prosperity Guardian. In execution, their operation was flawless. But conceptually there was a flaw. Because we were required to use a sophisticated and expensive surface-to-air missile to shoot down a relatively cheap drone.

From Nagorno-karabakh, to Ukraine, to the Red Sea, in a short time frame cheap adaptable drones, often built from commercial components, have transformed the battlefield and the threat picture we face.

In defence it is important to understand your vulnerabilities as well as your strengths. And it had been evident to me for some time that the old way of doing defence procurement, with programmes rumbling on sometimes for a decade or more, was no longer fit for purpose.

So I worked with the Defence Secretary to press fast-forward on a better solution that we had in the pipeline.

Dragonfire technology will engage aerial targets at the speed of light, for just £10 a shot. And with our extra investment and agility, it will be operational on Royal Navy warships in 2027 rather than 2032.

Last month a Telegraph editorial wrote that Britain needed to reshape defence procurement. I agree.

And as a consequence of comprehensive reforms to defence procurement that I initiated and came into force this week, this increased pace and agility will not be a one-off. It will be the norm in all future procurement programmes.

Our new integrated procurement model is a response to a more dangerous world and the lessons we’ve learned from Ukraine and previous acquisition programmes.

Our overriding objective is to create and procure the newest and best capabilities for our forces as quickly as we can. I’ve put targets in place to deliver battle-winning capabilities in years rather than decades, helping us stay ahead of adversaries, bolster our supply chains, and strengthen our defence sector.

I have also dismantled procurement silos that had existed around the Army, Navy and Air Force and replaced them with a spur to pan-defence prioritisation – based squarely on the threat we face. This will send clear signals to industry about where they need to ramp up R&D and production capacity.

Furthermore, I have introduced more rigour into the process to improve decision-making and deliver a genuine “second opinion” for ministers. Rather than wait years for gold-plated exquisite capabilities, I have embraced minimum deployable capability in order to get gamechanging kit quickly into service, knowing that we can “spirally” adapt it in the future as needs evolve or technology advances.

And because Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has underlined the need to retain and build sovereign defence capabilities, I am prioritising exportability from the outset of acquisition programmes, and incentivising UK manufacture in our decision-making processes, which will help strengthen the UK’S defence industrial base.

This new, faster and more agile approach requires a cultural change and a new and seamless relationship between customer and supplier.

That change is happening, and we are building those relationships.

We are already sharing secret data with trusted partner companies from wargaming exercises and Ukraine’s front line.

Dragonfire is an exciting new capability embodying our new approach: rapidly procured, with red tape slashed; scientifically cutting edge; and, above all, sovereign, being the birth child of our own MOD scientists at the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory.

I want the Royal Navy to have use of it as soon as possible in order to keep global shipping lanes open and help keep household bills down. I will, therefore, take procurement decisions to develop other capabilities that will bolster our sovereign capabilities and protect our operational independence in a more warlike world.

Dragonfire illustrates the many different ways the professional and committed people who serve in the Armed Forces make our lives better. Our decision to accelerate its delivery shows how a smarter approach to procurement can simultaneously strengthen national security, our sovereign defence industry, and the capabilities of our Armed Forces.