Britain’s military preparedness rests on a network of businesses extending well beyond the contractors delivering major weapons and platforms. Smaller firms provide specialist engineering, components, technology and skills that can be difficult to replace if supply is disrupted.
That dependence was a central theme at JOSCAR Live, where more than 400 people from across the UK defence supply chain met to discuss how industry could respond to growing security pressures. The even...
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t, organised by supplier-data company Hellios, brought together government representatives, large contractors, financial institutions and small and medium-sized enterprises.
The Ministry of Defence is seeking to increase the role of smaller businesses in its supply chain. Its SME Action Plan sets out four priorities: making procurement simpler, raising spending with SMEs, improving the range and resilience of suppliers, and working through regional, academic and industry networks. The department says it currently spends about £5 billion a year with SMEs, including work awarded directly and business carried out through larger suppliers. It aims to add a further £2.5 billion by summer 2028 while maintaining that existing level.
The target is a policy commitment, not evidence that the extra spending has yet been secured. The Ministry’s plan acknowledges that smaller firms can find public procurement and supply-chain requirements difficult to navigate. The Defence Office for Small Business Growth, launched to help address those obstacles, is intended to improve guidance and engagement and make it easier for companies to pursue work either directly or through major contractors.
Air Vice-Marshal Ange Baker, the Ministry’s director of joint support, told delegates at JOSCAR Live: “From rocks to rockets, our defence readiness depends on the strength and resilience of the entire defence supply chain,”
“SMEs have an increasingly important role to play, bringing vital skills, innovation and agility. Greater collaboration among all stakeholders will be essential if we are to continue to build our capability, capacity, and the robustness to respond effectively to an increasingly complex threat landscape.”
The Government’s Strategic Defence Review gives the policy drive a wider security context. It warns that international instability, cyber-attacks and threats to critical infrastructure could affect the economy and the industries supporting the Armed Forces. The review also identifies weaknesses in the capacity and resilience of the strategic industrial base, and argues for earlier engagement with suppliers, fewer obstacles to collaboration and procurement processes better suited to the risks and needs of each acquisition.
A separate Ministry of Defence supply-chain strategy similarly argues that resilience requires more than cost-cutting and efficiency. It sets out an approach based on closer integration and collaboration, reflecting vulnerabilities made more visible by events including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.
For smaller suppliers, however, participation can demand considerable investment before any contract is certain. Assurance requirements, lengthy procurement processes and a lack of clarity about future demand can make it hard to justify the cost of entering a supply chain. Firms that wait for a firm opportunity may then lack the capacity to scale up when one arrives.
Dillon Padraig Harmon, chief operating officer at aerospace SME Needles & Pins Aerospace, said at the conference: “Current geopolitical tensions have brought into sharp focus the vital role SMEs can play in strengthening the UK’s defence readiness. They are the backbone of Britain, driving innovation, investing in the next generation of talent, and providing the specialist skills our defence supply chain needs,”
He also pointed to the value of closer links between government, industry and education providers in developing the skills and services needed for future defence programmes. Meetings such as JOSCAR Live can help smaller companies make contacts with larger contractors, although networking alone cannot ensure that relationships lead to orders.
JOSCAR, the Joint Supply Chain Accreditation Register, is a shared platform for supplier information and compliance. Hellios says it allows participating buyers to review data gathered in one place, helping with due diligence and reducing repeated requests to suppliers. The service provider presents the system as a way to improve visibility and ease some administrative burdens. Registration, however, cannot guarantee a contract or remove the need for companies to invest in people, equipment and production capacity.
Hellios chief executive Colin Maund told delegates: “The strength of the UK’s defence sector depends on the capability of the supply chain that feeds it,”
He said the gathering offered participants an opportunity to consider how they could work together more effectively. “Whilst JOSCAR has increased efficiency and ease of access for all suppliers that is only a part of a complex picture,” he added.
That complexity will test the Government’s spending ambition. Simpler processes and shared compliance tools may help open doors, but suppliers also need reliable indications of demand, skilled workers and the means to expand. The measure of success will be whether more smaller British firms secure substantial work and can deliver at the pace and scale required, not simply whether new support measures are in place.
Source: Noah Wire Services
