Consider 'outsourcing and incremental procurement', urges UK industry leader

Following an independent review that identified fundamental flaws in the UK's planning and management of defence procurement, both government and industry are considering new methods of delivering required capability faster and more efficiently.

According to Dr Sandy Wilson, vice-president of Defence at industry trade body Aerospace, Defence and Security (ADS), this imminent realignment of defence priorities should centre on a new culture of incremental procurement, while the armed forces may need to exploit the potential for outsourcing in areas such as maintenance, logistics and training.

Outsourcing

"I think the criterion that should be applied to [outsourcing] is simply value for money," said Wilson, who is also president and managing director of General Dynamics UK [GDUK]. "Does it make sense to do it in industry rather than do it within the Ministry of Defence? The argument there will come down to who has the greater core skills and capabilities. In hard economic times those are very sensible questions to ask."

Wilson highlighted outsourcing opportunities in the field of military operations, especially in relation to complex equipment in the of C4ISTAR domain (command, control, communications, computers, information/intelligence, surveillance, targeting acquisition and reconnaissance).