With wars in Iran, Lebanon, Ukraine and Gaza defence is never far from the headlines.
For the UK, the headlines have led with near-daily stories about internal wrangling about the long-delayed publication of the Defence Investment Plan (DIP). The Prime Minister has indicated he would like this by the upcoming 7 July NATO summit, but there remains sufficient uncertainty that this will be achieved, with the opposition Conservatives suggesting they may attempt to put the publication date into law.
The Government has stated that the plan will be a ten-year transformation of Britain’s defence, committing some £18bn of funding behind it, and with major commitments like the Global Combat Air Programme (GCAP) and autonomous maritime vessels likely to be at the forefront of the Government’s announcements around the plan.
Too little, too late?
But is it already out of date?
In an era of AI, drones, hybrid warfare, and disinformation, is the delayed DIP worth the wait? With technology developing month on month in the fields of the Donbas, will equipment committed to today be battle-worthy in 2030 or 2025?
The DIP itself is already nearly a year overdue, having been conceived in essence as a funding response to the Strategy Defence Review of 2025.
There is also the significant and ever-present question of funding. The £18bn promised in early comments from the Government has alarmed commentators, coming some way short of a full commitment to all aspects of the SDR and heralding cuts in some programmes and invoking very rare comments from the UK’s service chiefs, and is in a stark contrast to the astonishing $1.15tn of additional defence funding going through the US Congress at present.
Even this £18bn is under threat, with the domestic political pressures and political uncertainty putting the UK’s public finances ever closer to the cliff edge of catastrophe. The Treasury, alarmed at the cost, appear to be the block on the DIP and there are suggestions that they have demanded control of the GCAP programme in an attempt to control costs and avoid a “HS2-style” spending catastrophe.
Our research at TEAM LEWIS has shown that public support for defence spending and investment is growing, even when spending trade-offs are considered, but it requires trust in the political class that they are taking the right decisions for the UK’s best interests, and political nous, leadership, and frankly bravery from those politicians to make the case for prioritising spending.
What is defence?
But even had it been timely, there is a more substantive point which the DIP will fail to answer, because the SDR failed to answer it: what does defence mean in 2026?
War has changed, as has the threat proximity for the UK: our defence is no longer a discussion about distant wars. We may not be looking at the imminent prospect of Russian tanks in Berlin as they were when the eponymous wall was raised, but the threat of Russia and other adversaries is as acute – if not more so – than the mid-1980s.
In recent months there has been a steady drumbeat across Europe of mysterious attacks on critical infrastructure, from railways in Poland to tech databases and power grids.
More obviously, there have been constant reports of Russian activity near undersea cables – through which the bulk of the data our economy, and indeed our lives, depend on. Port security remains minimal, and completely out of the public consciousness.
This is the threat that Moscow poses to our defence and is what any defence plan should be prioritising. Big ticket programmes like GCAP provide vital capabilities to keep our forces ahead, but they become worthless if the means from which our economy and our communications operate come under threat, or if a battlefield evolution in Ukraine renders a $40k drone capable of taking down a next generation aircraft.
What can we do?
We know we need faster, more forward-thinking leadership on defence – including prioritising defence spending. But that does not remove that every aspect of the private sector has a part to play in preparedness: a mission we embrace at TEAM LEWIS. We are actively working with leading lights of industry to foster collaboration, innovation, and rapid procurement to make the case for our fighting men and women having what they need for the battles of today and tomorrow, not yesterday. If we don’t know what defence means – because our politicians either cannot fathom how fast it is changing or cannot make the wranglings of the budget process keep pace – then the only solution is to build a defence acquisition system (the delivery apparatus that sits below the political-level decision making on budgets) that does match the tempo.
We also know that hardening our civilian infrastructure and building trust is integral to the wider and more relevant meaning of “defence”, and through our leading AI work and our Training For Trust™ we are giving clients the resilience and edge that they need to not only succeed in business, but inoculate themselves from the ever present threats of malignant actors who see our entire economy and society as their battlespace.
We are passionate about helping innovative companies get their technologies adopted faster.
Finance, regulation, risk appetite and politics all present barriers in every market. Often Government does not have the bandwidth to address these legacy issues at the speed the market requires.
We are here to help the private sector provide solutions to these critical challenges. Last month, TEAM LEWIS facilitated a meeting between the US’s Applied Research Institute DARPA and FVEYs nations, ADS and others concerned with rapid procurement platforms and increasing the funding to and take up of innovative technology.
Nations agreed to clear actions including mapping the pathway of established rapid market place platforms to their own regulatory requirements. This issue is now firmly on Five Eyes s commercial directors’ priority list and we hope help make further progress towards joint procurement platforms this autumn, cutting down time and expense for businesses trying to break into multiple markets.
Ready to put trust, transparency and governance at the centre of your narrative? Contact one of our defence and advanced technology experts to discuss how we can support your communications strategy.
