Close Menu
    What's Hot

    Crypto wrap: ETH, XRP, SOL shed gains as Bitcoin drops below $115k

    August 2, 2025

    Josip Heit and Apertum secure legal victory over Texas Securities Board (TSSB)

    August 2, 2025

    When the Price of Bitcoin Fluctuates, How Does LET Mining Allow Users to Obtain Stable Returns?

    August 2, 2025
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Hot Paths
    • Home
    • News
    • Politics
    • Money
    • Personal Finance
    • Business
    • Economy
    • Investing
    • Markets
      • Stocks
      • Futures & Commodities
      • Crypto
      • Forex
    • Technology
    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram
    Hot Paths
    Home»Business»Risk aversion in the defence ministry is holding Britain back
    Business

    Risk aversion in the defence ministry is holding Britain back

    Press RoomBy Press RoomMay 31, 2025No Comments4 Mins Read
    Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Share
    Facebook Twitter LinkedIn Pinterest Email

    Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free

    Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.

    The writer is the Labour MP for Plymouth Moor View and sits on the House of Commons defence committee 

    The UK seems unable to modernise its military. Even while spending billions arming Ukraine with the latest warfighting technology, our own soldiers are forced to train as they did in the early 2000s.

    No first-person view (FPV) drones for them, now ubiquitous on the battlefield. Nor the uncrewed surface vessels (USVs) that changed maritime fighting forever when they vanquished Russia’s Black Sea fleet in 2023.

    The Ministry Of Defence celebrates trials in these capabilities, but I am told by former colleagues who still serve that we remain far from arming our forces with them.

    When the UK lags behind, the finger is often pointed at procurement inefficiencies, overstretched budgets, or the lack of financing options for start-ups and small businesses. These are real issues but they’re not the main problem. The more I look at it, the more convinced I am that the deeper challenge in the MoD is adoption.

    This refers to the magical moment that a new military capability becomes a recognised requirement and lands on a long-term budget line. Until that happens, the military will not train with it, nor update its tactics and doctrine to include it. It won’t even be permitted in UK training areas.

    Adoption also means that whoever made this new technology gets paid. And by extension, it is the moment that private capital starts to pay attention, seeing a company secure a direct contract with government. It is the green light to invest in other companies, because they know there is now a real customer.

    The MoD has spent £35mn on FPV drones since July 2024. So, evidently, we know FPV drones are required in war. But all of these drones went to Ukraine, none went to our own forces.

    With discussion of “credible deterrence”, coalitions of the willing and peacekeeping boots on the ground, it is hard to fathom why this remains the case.

    Change doesn’t just require money. It requires will. And right now there is a deep cultural and structural resistance to change inside the MoD. This inertia stops new technologies from being adopted.

    There are myriad technical restrictions in place, ranging from air authority hand-wringing about training with drones to civil service commercial competition rules. As one CEO put it to the defence committee: “The MoD understands what equipment they want to fight the war. They are restricted from buying that equipment. Actively restricted from solutioneering.”

    This should be ringing alarm bells.

    But underpinning it all is a deeply risk-averse culture in the MoD. The stakes are high in defence, and nobody wants to be blamed for an error. But new technologies need room to fail, then adapt and improve as a result.

    The US Defense Innovation Unit has successfully moved technology from Silicon Valley into long-term defence contracts, scaling up a new generation of defence behemoths like Anduril, Palantir and Shield AI.

    The good news is that the UK is already purchasing and developing modern defence technologies. Beyond FPV drones and USVs, we have bought a host of advanced robotics, intelligence-gathering platforms, electronic warfare devices and loitering munitions.

    Monday’s strategic defence review is poised to address many of the long-standing challenges in UK defence. Ministers have promised clear answers for how the UK will confront the new threats we face, alongside expected procurement reforms and a renewed focus on readiness.

    Equally, the government’s new defence and security partnership with the EU sends many promising signals — including on the potential for a global defence bank, which would see countries pooling resources and facilitating defence funding.

    This is all very welcome. But unless the MoD fixes its broken adoption culture, no amount of defence financing will take Britain’s military into the future.

    If we are serious about modernising UK forces, we need an MoD that adopts new technologies. We must be willing to pay for new tech, and rapidly improve it if it fails. Gone are the days where we sit back and wait for industry to deliver. 

    All service personnel know we must modernise. The Royal Marines, the organisation I grew up in, recently announced it wanted to train all recruits to fly FPV drones. It falls to the ministry, civil servants and ministers to unlock the door they are pushing against.

    The defence establishment must give our world-class forces world-class tech to train with. Future financing and innovation will follow. But it starts with a culture that says yes to change.

    Share. Facebook Twitter Pinterest LinkedIn Tumblr Email
    Press Room

    Related Posts

    China’s ASML endeavour and India eyes Taiwan ties

    July 17, 2025

    Volvo Cars reports first operating loss since 2021 IPO

    July 17, 2025

    Publicis shrugs off advertising gloom with forecast upgrade

    July 17, 2025
    Leave A Reply Cancel Reply

    LATEST NEWS

    Crypto wrap: ETH, XRP, SOL shed gains as Bitcoin drops below $115k

    August 2, 2025

    Josip Heit and Apertum secure legal victory over Texas Securities Board (TSSB)

    August 2, 2025

    When the Price of Bitcoin Fluctuates, How Does LET Mining Allow Users to Obtain Stable Returns?

    August 2, 2025

    Tesla ordered to pay $329M over fatal autopilot crash in Florida

    August 2, 2025
    POPULAR
    Business

    The Business of Formula One

    May 27, 2023
    Business

    Weddings and divorce: the scourge of investment returns

    May 27, 2023
    Business

    How F1 found a secret fuel to accelerate media rights growth

    May 27, 2023
    Advertisement
    Load WordPress Sites in as fast as 37ms!

    Archives

    • August 2025
    • July 2025
    • June 2025
    • May 2025
    • April 2025
    • March 2025
    • February 2025
    • January 2025
    • December 2024
    • November 2024
    • April 2024
    • March 2024
    • February 2024
    • January 2024
    • December 2023
    • November 2023
    • October 2023
    • September 2023
    • May 2023

    Categories

    • Business
    • Crypto
    • Economy
    • Forex
    • Futures & Commodities
    • Investing
    • Market Data
    • Money
    • News
    • Personal Finance
    • Politics
    • Stocks
    • Technology

    Your source for the serious news. This demo is crafted specifically to exhibit the use of the theme as a news site. Visit our main page for more demos.

    We're social. Connect with us:

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest YouTube

    Subscribe to Updates

    Get the latest creative news from FooBar about art, design and business.

    Facebook X (Twitter) Instagram Pinterest
    • Home
    • Buy Now
    © 2025 ThemeSphere. Designed by ThemeSphere.

    Type above and press Enter to search. Press Esc to cancel.