Ministry Of Defence
We are continuing to learn the lessons of the war in Ukraine all the time, in real time, but the centrality of full spectrum air defence is absolutely, as far as were concerned, undeniable.
Indeed, the dangers we confront today its absolutely self-evident - are no longer hypothetical. This is the key change thats happened since the invasion. Russia has brought war to Europes doorstep and the conflict in Ukraine provides a dark mirror of the future threat environment that we need to consider.
Weve witnessed the use of new technologies in combination precision strike capabilities, hypersonic missiles, and low-cost UAVs.
Weve seen the deployment of new tactics from GPS spoofing to coordinated cyber-attacks and kinetic strikes on Ukraines early warning systems and communications.
But, worst of all, and the ultimate reason were here, Russia has proved to be a nation utterly unconstrained by the rules of war or the laws of morality. Whether targeting civilian infrastructure, committing a litany of human rights abuses, or even disregarding their own duty of care to their own people. And so, as the UKs Defence Procurement Minister I am committed to ensuring that as the threats change so must our responses to them.
So, today the UK and our allies face a real challenge. We must regrow our capabilities to protect ourselves across air, land and space, and sea.
To defend against multiple threats simultaneously. And to do so at pace. Knowing that the dangers were facing are no longer evolving over decades but over months. So, our challenge is to make the whole of our UK Defence enterprise more versatile. Imbuing it with the flexibility to counter shifting threats and adjust to new technologies.
Our Integrated Review refresh and forthcoming Defence Command Paper will set out how were going to deliver full spectrum air defence for the 21st century. Thankfully much of this activity is obviously already underway.
So, whats happening?
On land our Armyis modernising itsGround-Based Air Defence to make sure our personnel and allies are much better protected and better connected.
Some of you will be familiar with Sky Sabre, our beyond line-of-sight medium range capability. Unprecedented in speed, performance, and target acquisition, so accurate that it can apparently hit a tennis ball sized object travelling at the speed of sound.
And it is so agile it can control the flight of 24 missiles simultaneously whilst in flight, guiding them to intercept 24 separate targets.
Sky Sabre is forecast to reach full operational capability later in the year and we plan to increase the number of our launchers to equip the whole of 16th Regiment Royal Artillery.
At the same time, were extending our Short-Range High Velocity and Lightweight Multirole missiles until 2035. Otherwise known as Starstreak and Martlet, these world class missiles have received rave reviews in Ukraine where they have proved a potent weapon against fixed wing aircraft, support and attack helicopters and Uncrewed Air Systems and Cruise Missiles. Their Laser Beam riding technology is now highly in demand.
Well be building on these current capabilities to support our armoured and air assault brigade combat teams. Our programme will deliver a new mounted platform equipped with active sensor radars to replace our ageing Stormer vehicles for operations in forward areas.
Were also developing kit to counter small air targets such as rockets, missiles, and loitering munitions like the Shahed and Lancet currently used by Russia in Ukraine.
From late October we will be arming our very high readiness light forces with new weapons to detect and destroy small UAS threats that are prevalent across all modern battlefields.
Indeed, interesting to see a lot of that type of kit being promoted in the foyer. Significantly, these are not one-off Urgent Capability requirements. This is enduring capability that can be spirally developed in response to evolving dangers.
In fact, this week I announced that the MOD had placed a framework contract worth up to 20 million with Viking Arms Ltd to procure the SmartShooter Smart Weapon Sight Fire Control System. Known otherwise as SMASH. It will give any dismounted soldier the ability to achieve a high probability hit against micro and miniUnmanned Air Vehicles.
Shifting to the sea domain, our Royal Navyis building its Future Air Dominance System. Likely to comprise the new Type 83 Class platforms which will one day replace Type 45 these are more than just ships. They are a distributed sensor network. Effectively a system of systems.
They will be highly automated. Blendingmissiles with new technologies such as Directed Energy Weapons. Incorporating both uncrewed systems and complex radar sensing capabilities. Able to raise an umbrella over our fleet, contribute to control of the air over a wider area and allow us to maintain freedom of manoeuvre through increased detection ranges.
As the name suggests, dominance is the name of the game. And dominance will be achieved through faster response times and greater lethality over longer distances.
Sticking with our present capability, we continue investing in our Sea Viper Evolution programme. Ensuring our current crop of world class warships have the air and missile defence systems to protect Maritime Task Groups against increasingly more complex threats, including ballistic missiles.
And finally switching from sea to air, where our RAFs future fleet will not just be about Typhoon air defence and F-35 strike fighters. Or about anti-submarine and transport aircraft. It will also be about future combat systems delivered courtesy of our multi-billion-pound Global Combat Air Programme. GCAP, as Im sure you all know.
This sixth-generation fighterwill incorporate deep learning, novel sensors, next generation combat airand communications technologies. Last Thursday, I visited it in the factory in Warton and I think the key thing, as Im sure you all appreciate, alongside all these important points is that it is creating well paid, skilled jobs and apprenticeships across the country.
Returning to the subject of Ukraine, and the crucial point of integration the defiance her armed forces have shown to date, achieved despite overwhelming odds, illuminates the importance of acting with head as well as heart.
Matching abundance of courage with tactical awareness and, in particular, a striking ability to innovate in the heat of battle. But it is in their capacity to integrate that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have truly excelled.
They have shown a unique ability to share data in real time between their units. That integrated approach has helped them build a three-dimensional picture of the battlespace allowing them to accurately target enemy units.
In a similar vein, weve made integration the centrepiece of our full spectrum approach.
Its more than just a word crowbarred into the titles of our defence reviews. Were embedding integration it into our DNA in three key areas.
First, by creatinga digital ecosystem.Its not enough to have a multitude of sensors across land, sea, air, space and cyber. We have to make sure our systems can talk to each other across multiple domains.
Thanks to our digital architecture and deployable network we have the reliability and the security to do just that. Whether GBAD, GCAP, FADS or any other acronym you care to mention there are many in defence as you know - all will have the power to share information instantaneously online from anywhere.
To translate massive data sets into greater situational awareness and faster decision making. To locate and target an enemy more rapidly and more efficiently. All coupled, ultimately with the sensor to shooter links to destroy a wider range of rapidly evolving threats.
Secondly, were integrating our industrial capacity by working more closely with industry. Ukraine has brought us face to face with a new reality. One where the Defence sector must find ways not just to refill its stockpiles a very pressing priority for me but surge production but to innovate. We tend to think about innovation in terms of next generation weaponry be it directed energyor drone swarms. Or we think about it in terms of incorporating AI into our arsenal to fight increasingly high-tempo wars. And innovation is about that.
But its also about reconciling the conflicting demands for exquisite capability on one hand, with the need for affordability and pace on the other.
Using a missile worth hundreds of thousands of pounds to take down a cheap quadcopter packed with bombs is not cost effective.
That, of course, demands a bit of blue-sky thinking. Which, in turn, means forginga new relationship with industry.
Our Defence Security and Industrial Strategy (DSIS) released a few years back has already put this partnership on a new footing. Ukraine accelerated the process. And, since then, weve showcased what we can do when we put our minds together.
Weve seen MOD operating outside the standard procurement processes and simplifying contracting mechanisms. And weve seen industry responding by reusing existing technology, reducing Unit Production Cost, and adopting an innovative qualification process.
This innovative approach has given birth not just to new dynamic manufacturing techniques taking existing anti-armour missile from stockpiles and spirally developing it into a ground-launched anti-armour weapon. But to new air defence capability, whats called re-roleing existing air-to-air systems moving from concept to design to delivery in just three months.
This type of